Malicious hackers are attacking more and more frequently and threatening all types of businesses, especially cities, hospitals, and schools. According to Malwarebytes, ransomware detection increased by 363% over the past year. No more access to private data, emails, phones, management systems, delivery systems, payment systems, etc. This ransomware takes companies' IT systems hostage and only releases them once a ransom has been paid. In an interview with the New York Times in August, Eli Sugarman, who heads the Hewlett Foundation's cybersecurity programme, said: ‘We're seeing more ransomware attacks because they work.’
Swiss organisations under attack
Switzerland is not immune to the growing threat of ransomware. Proof of this is that the Swiss Federal Office for Information Security (MELANI), the Swiss government agency active in the field of cybersecurity, has already warned companies twice this year following waves of cyber attacks. The costs of these attacks should not be underestimated. For example, Meier Tobler, a Swiss listed company, suffered a total shutdown for four days in July. As a result, it incurred an estimated loss of turnover of CHF 5 million, as well as exceptional costs of CHF 1 to 2 million related to combating the attack, which affected its annual results. According to a global study conducted by Sophos in 2018, the average cost of an attack was CHF 130,000.
Cyber insurance
To address this new type of risk, more and more insurance policies are being offered against cyber attacks. However, insurers offer various types of cover with different approaches: their products are well designed, but exclusions set out in the General Terms and Conditions of Insurance (GTC) could be invoked when a claim is made. Some insurers are willing to offer favourable rates and waive some of these exclusions if guarantees can be provided regarding security measures, updates, maintenance and password usage practices.
Let our team of IT infrastructure and data protection experts help you take immediate steps to secure your data. We have long-standing expertise and apply best practices to ensure the security of your data and that of your organisation, both on-site and in the cloud. We can check whether you comply with your insurer's data security requirements. Please do not hesitate to contact us.






