Lloyds Chief Says Cyberhacks Now Bigger Risk Than Weather

Cyber attacks have overtaken natural disasters as the biggest category of risk for insurers, according to the CEO of Lloyds of London. Speaking at a symposium in Hong Kong, as a hypothetical she cited the targeting of a major cloud service provider. Her estimate was that such an attack if successful could result in a $50 billion loss, noting even that number could be way low because carriers haven’t had enough experience to make accurate estimates. By comparison, she said estimated losses from hurricane Katrina in 2005 were $108 billion, of which $80 billion was covered. Meanwhile, the number of cyber attacks has spiraled and predictions are for more, and more serious, attacks in the coming decade.