Insurers Warn Over Growing Risk of AI-Enabled Cyber Attacks
AI-enabled cyber attacks are emerging as a significant concern for the insurance industry, with new research from KPMG UK finding that 30% of insurance leaders believe they are the emerging risk the sector is least prepared for.
The findings, based on a survey of 109 UK insurance leaders at director level and above, put AI-enabled attacks ahead of climate-related catastrophes and technology system failures or outages as an area of preparedness concern.
Cyber resilience is consequently moving higher up the agenda. Six in ten respondents said cyber resilience should be strengthened over the next 12 months, while 45% identified AI governance and oversight as an area requiring greater attention.
However, AI is not viewed solely as a threat. Some 30% of insurance leaders identified AI as the emerging technology offering the greatest opportunity to strengthen UK resilience, highlighting the increasingly complex relationship between AI adoption, cyber security and risk management.
The research also points to the importance of collaboration. Almost four in ten respondents identified improving cyber resilience as the area requiring the greatest co-operation between insurers, government and technology companies. At the same time, 32% said limited industry co-operation due to competitive sensitivities was the biggest barrier preventing insurers from providing greater protection against systemic cyber risks to clients.
As AI capabilities continue to develop, the findings highlight a growing challenge for insurers: harnessing the opportunities presented by the technology while strengthening governance, cyber protection and operational resilience against increasingly sophisticated threats.
