EVENTS
IBS Journal February 2018
17
Cybercrime and data breaches most likely risks in 2018
In an ever-riskier world, what stands out as the major worries this year? Henry Vilar snuck into the Bloomberg offices, laptop in hand, to find out what the World Economic Forum delegates think
Junior Reporter Henry Vilar
T
he World Economic Forum has released its Global Risks Report 2018, in which cyber risk has considerably climbed up the priorities list for this year.
Out of the top 10 risks by likelihood, cybercrime is listed as number three, with data fraud and theft just one position below. The Forum highlighted the fact that attacks against business have almost doubled in five years, with cybersecurity incidents becoming more and more commonplace. According to the report, some of the most costly breaches in 2017 were ransomware attacks, which accounted for 64% of all malicious emails.
John Drzik, president, global risk and digital at Marsh, highlighted the fact that cyber risk was deemed to be the most likely to develop into something even worse during this year (brace yourselves for 2019), fuelled in part by some of the geopolitical trends going on, creating further motivations than purely financial ones for some of these attacks.
Alison Martin, group chief risk officer at Zurich Insurance Group, was one of the panelists at the launch event. She alluded to data and analytics, highlighting its importance in the process of risk assessment, and more importantly, risk management.
Threats to the internet
“A proliferation of damaging cross border cyberattacks might be the most likely trigger for a government-led breakup of the internet into national or regional ‘walled gardens’,” the report read. “Fragmentation of the internet could involve, among other things, interruption of technical internet functions or barriers to the flow of content and transaction.”
The full report also includes a section on artificial intelligence (AI), which raises questions about the co-existence of widespread AI and the internet: “What if the adverse impact of AI involves
not a superintelligence that takes control from humans but ‘AI weeds’ – low-level algorithms that slowly choke off the internet? Digital hygiene is likely to become a more pressing concern for end-users.”
The launch event couldn’t ignore the importance of Bitcoin this year, with Richard Samans, member of the managing board at the World Economic Forum, calling it “emblematic of the overall trends in asset prices this year”.
“The world is eight years into a bull run, with global stock markets hitting all-time high after all-time high,” read the report. “This has raised fears that this is another episode of ‘irrational exuberance’, that the lessons of the crisis have gone unlearned, and that a deep correction may follow.”
Three out of the top five risk concerns by likelihood are related to natural events, weather conditions and thus, climate change. This topic was continually discussed throughout the event, with concerns raised over the US administration and calls for international co-operation. “It’s not too late to meet the Paris Agreement,” said Martin. “But we need to take action now, revisit policies and embrace technological advances.”
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