Cybersecurity and the Interconnectedness of Infastructure Tops List of Emerging Risks

For the fourth year in a row, cybersecurity and the interconnectedness of infrastructure was named as the top emerging risk in an anonymous international survey of actuaries.

The “11th Annual Survey of Emerging Risks,” issued by the Casualty Actuarial Society, Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries’ Joint Risk Management Section, asked a group of approximately 220 risk managers to weigh in on everything from terrorism and financial volatility to regional instability and asset price collapse.

Ranking Emerging Risks

Since 2014, cybersecurity and the interconnectedness of infrastructure has led the pack of imminent risks, though the percentages have stabilized somewhat. Cyberthreats represented the top concern for 65 percent of those surveyed in 2015, for example, but this number fell to 53 percent in 2016 and remained constant in 2017.

After cybersecurity, terrorism, technology, regional instability and asset price collapse rounded out the list of the top five emerging risks. Financial volatility, meanwhile, fell off of the list in 2017 despite holding the No. 2 spot for the three previous years.

The survey asked actuaries to identify the top current risk, emerging risk and “risk combinations.” Cyber/interconnectedness of infrastructure was the No. 1 choice across all categories, including the “Top Risk Combinations” category, where it was paired with technology. Terrorism and cyber/interconnectedness of infrastructure also placed third on this list.

Looking Toward the Future

The authors noted that there is a difference between looking at emerging risks that could affect our short-term future and those that might pose problems for the next generation. Looking out to 2050, for example, 30 percent of respondents cited geopolitical issues as their top concern, while technological risk ranked lower at 23 percent.

The Joint Risk Management Section, which convened several associations to conduct the survey, said it would release additional results with more open-ended answers from respondents later this year.

Shane Schick

Writer & Editor

When ransomware kills: Attacks on healthcare facilities

4 min read - As ransomware attacks continue to escalate, their toll is often measured in data loss and financial strain. But what about the loss of human life? Nowhere is the ransomware threat more acute than in the healthcare sector, where patients’ lives are literally on the line.Since 2015, there has been a staggering increase in ransomware attacks on healthcare facilities. And the impacts are severe: Diverted emergency services, delayed critical treatments and even fatalities. Meanwhile, the pledge some ransomware groups made during…

AI and cloud vulnerabilities aren’t the only threats facing CISOs today

6 min read - With cloud infrastructure and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI) systems becoming prime targets for attackers, security leaders are laser-focused on defending these high-profile areas. They’re right to do so, too, as cyber criminals turn to new and emerging technologies to launch and scale ever more sophisticated attacks.However, this heightened attention to emerging threats makes it easy to overlook traditional attack vectors, such as human-driven social engineering and vulnerabilities in physical security.As adversaries exploit an ever-wider range of potential entry points…

4 trends in software supply chain security

4 min read - Some of the biggest and most infamous cyberattacks of the past decade were caused by a security breakdown in the software supply chain. SolarWinds was probably the most well-known, but it was not alone. Incidents against companies like Equifax and tools like MOVEit also wreaked havoc for organizations and customers whose sensitive information was compromised.Expect to see more software supply chain attacks moving forward. According to ReversingLabs' The State of Software Supply Chain Security 2024 study, attacks against the software…

Security Intelligence

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

Topics

Ranking Emerging Risks

Looking Toward the Future

More from

When ransomware kills: Attacks on healthcare facilities

AI and cloud vulnerabilities aren’t the only threats facing CISOs today

4 trends in software supply chain security

Topic updates