Cyber threats were the top concern for business decision-makers for the third time in four years, according to the 2022 Travelers Risk Index.

Cyber threats were chosen as a top concern by 59 percent of respondents, followed by broad economic uncertainty (57 percent), fluctuations in oil and energy costs (56 percent), the ability to attract and retain talent (56 percent), and medical cost inflation (55 percent). Travelers said that big jumps were seen this year relating to concerns in oil and energy costs (a 16-point increase, up from 40 percent) and supply chain risks (54 percent, up from 43 percent).

The survey revealed that many companies seem to have a false sense of security when it comes to cyber preparedness. The vast majority (93 percent) of respondents were confident their company had implemented best practices to prevent or mitigate a cyber event; however, 64 percent admitted they don’t use endpoint detection and response, 59 percent haven’t conducted a cyber assessment for vendors, and 53 percent don’t have an incident response plan. And while 90 percent of survey respondents were familiar with multifactor authentication (MFA), only 52 percent said their company had implemented the practice for remote access.

“Cyber attacks can shut down a company for a long period of time or even put it out of business, and it’s imperative that companies have a plan in place to mitigate any associated operational and financial disruptions,” said Tim Francis, enterprise cyber lead at Travelers, in a statement. “Effective measures that have proven to reduce the risk of becoming a cyber victim are available, but based on these survey results, not enough companies are taking action.”

Other key cyber findings from the report:

• The top three cyber concerns were suffering a security breach (57 percent say they worry some or a great deal), a system glitch causing a company’s computers to go down (55 percent) and becoming a cyber extortion/ransomware victim (54 percent).

• More than a quarter (26 percent) of survey participants said their company had suffered a data breach or cyber event, with 49 percent reporting that the event occurred within the past 12 months. Of those who said their company had suffered a data breach or cyber event, 71 percent have been a victim more than once.

• More than half (57 percent) of respondents think a future cyber attack on their company is inevitable.

• Nearly 75 percent of respondents believe having a cyber insurance policy is critical, but only 59 percent said their company has purchased coverage—up only 3 points from 2021. Small businesses accounted for the largest increase of cyber policy purchasers, up from 30 percent to 38 percent this year.

About the Survey
Hart Research conducted a national online survey of 1,202 U.S. business decision-makers July 11-27, 2022, regarding their top challenges. Launched in November 2014, the Travelers Risk Index survey was commissioned by Travelers.