Cyber risk grows but cyber insurance is in its infancy

THE severity and frequency of cyber breaches and attacks are growing by the day. Singapore has suffered a number of attacks.

The most serious occurred last year when the personal information of some 1.5 million SingHealth patients, including details of medicine dispensed to about 160,000 people, was stolen by hackers. A committee of inquiry report released last month said the hackers resembled "state-sponsored actors", who were likely "skilled and sophisticated".

The scale of the attack, carried out over several months starting mid-2017, should put the government and companies on guard. But companies' awareness of their vulnerabilities remains uneven at best. A survey by Chubb of 300 small and medium enterprises last year found that three in five SMEs have had breaches that caused disruptions and data leaks over the past 12 months. But the majority believe large corporations were more at risk of c…