Global cybercrime is estimated to inflict total economic losses of USD 8 trillion in 2023, with damage costs projected to increase to USD 10.5 trillion annually by 2025. The Asian cyber market, where high vulnerability to cyberattacks is driven by digitalisation, increasing internet penetration, and changes in global supply chains, is still growing, with varying levels of penetration across different countries. The development of cyber risk models is crucial for insurers to understand and manage the complexity of cyber risk effectively. There is a need for collaboration among stakeholders, including governments, to address cyber risks and improve cyber incident data collection, policy standardisation, and legal clarity on exposure and coverage.

The world’s first cybercrime allegedly happened in 1834, when attackers stole financial market information by “hacking” into the telegraph system in France. The modern version of cybercrime took place in 1962 when Allen Scherr attacked the MIT computer networks via punch cards to steal passwords from databases. Since the 2010s, cyberattacks have exploded in terms of scale, scope, sophistication, and damage.

After gaining prominence recently, cybercrime and cyber insecurity went down in the 2022 World Economic Forum (WEF) annual tabulation on major risks, overshadowed by fast-evolving geopolitical events…