Cyber fraud: “it will never happen to me”

HRIA Insurance Partner, Hire Insurance Brokers, gives an update about online scam trends and their casualty rates. 

You pay a supplier invoice using electronic banking. Everything seems fine, the invoice was expected, is from a known supplier, the value of the invoice is correct, their bank account details need to be updated but that’s easily fixed.

Simple right?

Until you receive the phone call from that supplier requesting payment of that same invoice. That sinking, panicking feeling when the supplier tells you they have never changed bank accounts is the feeling of having fallen victim to cyber fraud.

Like so many other Australian businesses, you may have fallen victim to a Cybercrime.

It’s so common, the Australian Cyber Security Centre reports they receive one report of Cyber Crime every 10 minutes.

Types of cyber losses

The above example is one of the more common cyber losses, often called social engineering or financial fraud claims. In this example, the individual who changed the bank account details of a supplier without phoning the supplier first contributed to the loss, however there are also losses with no known employee involvement, such as losses arising where:

• correspondence between your business and the supplier are intercepted by the ‘hacker’, resulting in the payment details of an invoice being changed;
• an invoice looks like it’s coming from the correct supplier however their email has been compromised or ‘spoofed’; meaning ‘the hacker’ has gained access to the supplier email account and is sending out unauthorised emails, often intercepting the replying so the supplier does not even know it’s happening – until it’s too late;
• entire systems are ‘hacked’, unable to be used or accessed and your data/records are held for ransom.

If you’re lucky to be one of the few companies yet to experience a cyber claim, you should ask yourself ‘am I next?’. According to the Chubb Cyber Index claims data, there’s been a 1,215 percent increase in the number of commercial cyber insurance claims over the past 10 years and there is no evidence of this trend slowing down.

We hear businesses so often tell us it will never happen to them. Until it does.

What can I do to protect my business?

The Australian Cyber Security Centre has practical steps you can take to protect your business from cyber threats. You can also look to mitigate your cyber rights through insurance- talk to your insurance broker today about a Cyber Policy that is right for your business.

Find out more about the HRIA member benefits available from Hire Insurance Brokers here.