Insurance industry must be proactive as GenAI reshapes cyber landscape
The impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technology on the cyber landscape is expected to increase the frequency, severity, and diversity of attacks, and as the threats evolve, it’s imperative that the insurance industry takes proactive steps, according to Lloyd’s.
A new report from Lloyd’s, the world’s oldest insurance and reinsurance marketplace, explores how the rapid evolution of GenAI is reshaping the cyber landscape, ultimately requiring businesses to bolster their resilience to ever-changing threats.
The sophistication of AI, and notably unrestricted advanced GenAI models, has grown significantly in recent times, and Lloyd’s argues that this is set to reshape the cyber risk landscape as it augments threat actors and defensive capabilities.
But despite these recent advancements, Lloyd’s does state that so far, material impacts on the cyber threat landscape have been minimal, in part as a result of safety mechanisms and effectiveness of AI model governance, and also cost and hardware barriers which have prevented widespread misuse by threat actors.
The worry is that as these tools become more and more accessible, they will pose an increasing risk as threat actors could have more opportunities to leverage the tools in malicious ways.
Lloyd’s feels that the impact of GenAI on the cyber landscape is likely to increase the frequency, severity, and diversity of smaller scale cyber attacks, which the company believes will grow over the next two years, followed by “a plateauing as security and defensive technologies catch up to counterbalance their impacts.”
Cyber insurance is one of the fastest growing segments of the insurance industry, and Lloyd’s highlights the important role it plays in helping businesses and society both understand and manage the threat. The marketplace underlines the importance of businesses and the insurance industry taking proactive steps to manage the potential changes to the cyber threat landscape from GenAI technology.
“Lloyd’s has been exploring the complex and varied risks associated with AI since 2016 and its developments present both opportunities and risks for businesses and the insurance industry,” said Dr Kirsten Mitchell-Wallace, Director of Portfolio Risk Management, Lloyd’s.
“When considering the threat landscape, we must stay responsive to these rapidly changing technologies, learn from them, and seek to make the most of the efficiencies they bring. Generative AI is not the first, and won’t be the last, disruptive technology to impact the cyber threat landscape, so it is critical that business improve their risk mitigation, security and defence technologies, as well as seek appropriate risk transfer today, more than ever before,” she added.
