There has been a wave of global cyberattacks over the past few months and even though they were launched on a global scale, significant devastation was avoided. Nevertheless, one has to think about the possibility of that happening at some point in the future. According to a new report, a major global cyberattack could have significant economic consequences. On average, the economic loss for such a cyberattack is predicted to be around $53 billion.
That’s a staggering figure, on par with some of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States, such as the Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Lloyd’s of London has written a report in partnership with Cyence, a risk-modeling firm, to calculate the potential economic losses from the hypothetical hacking of a cloud service provider coupled with devastating cyberattacks on operating systems run by major businesses globally.
The WannaCry ransomware attack that spread across the globe back in May is estimated to have had an economic impact of $8 billion. Cyence believes that the economic losses stemming from the hacking of a cloud service provider will dwarf the $8 billion impact of WannaCry.
The average economic losses from such a cyberattack have been estimated to $53 billion. Actual losses are predicted to be as high as $121 billion.
This rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape poses a challenge for insurers who are struggling to estimate their potential exposure to cyberattacks that cause grave economic losses. This report was commissioned to understand the economic fallout of a cyberattack on such a big scale.
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