Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has launched a cyber underwriting agency. In a media release this morning, the giant insurer said the new firm, called Cylo backed by CGU, aims to strengthen the cyber resiliency of small businesses.

“With cyber-risk ranked as the leading concern for Australian CEOs in 2024, we know businesses are deeply anxious about the growing incidences of cyber-attacks and their potential impact and exposure,” said CGU and WFI’s CEO, Jarrod Hill (pictured above).

The release said two other firms will provide customers with some of the agency’s cyber services.

UpGuard and Crawford are partners

UpGuard, said the release, will provide cyber risk monitoring, “acting as an early warning indicator of vulnerabilities to minimise the potential of cyber-attacks.”

“This partnership is a testament to our shared commitment to enhancing cyber resilience and protecting the critical assets of small businesses,” said UpGuard CEO Mike Baukes.

Crawford & Company is overseeing “24/7 incident response, cybersecurity intelligence and end-to-end claims management.”

“In our experience, it’s certainly not just big businesses that are being targeted by these cyber criminals,” said Crawford Australia president, Jonathan Hubbard. “Cyber insurance has become a must-have purchase for businesses large and small.”

SMEs are often a cyber target

The IAG release quoted Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) data that says only about 20% of Australian SME’s have stand-alone cyber insurance. According to another report cited in the release, 43% of cyber-attacks target SMEs “at an average cost of $39,000 per incident.”