Hong Kong’s smaller businesses think ‘we’re too small to be hacked’ despite hacking experience, insurer finds
- About 70 per cent of smaller businesses surveyed said they had been hacked or had data compromised
- Yet only about half carry cybersecurity insurance in city named a top hacking destination, insurer Chubb reports
Hacking is on the rise in Hong Kong. But many smaller businesses have a “we’re too small to be hacked” mindset that leaves them vulnerable, according to insurance company Chubb.
Chubb surveyed 300 of Hong Kong’s small and medium sized businesses and found that seven out of 10 said they had experienced a cybersecurity incident such as hacking or data loss in the past year. Despite this, half of the businesses surveyed had never bought cyber insurance. Fifty-two per cent of respondents also think they are less at risk than large corporations.
“There’s a perception with small businesses that ‘we’re too small to be hacked’,” Chubb Asia-Pacific’s Cyber Underwriting Manager Andrew Taylor said.
He argues that smaller companies actually have a larger exposure as they face the same risks as big businesses but lack the resources for comprehensive protection.
Hong Kong is facing growing cybersecurity threats. The city is ranked among the top five global destinations for cyberattacks, according to a 2018 report by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Police data shows there was a 55 per cent increase in the number of security breaches from 2017 to 2018 and financial losses due to cybercrime grew five-fold in six years – from HK$340 million in 2012 to HK$2.26 billion in the first nine months alone of 2018.