CYPRUS LOW ON TAKING OUT INSURANCE AGAINST ICT INCIDENTS

 Cyprus Mail 2 October 2020  - by Annette Chrysostomou

Cyprus is ranked number 16 of EU countries when it comes to having taken out insurance against ICT security incidents, Eurostat reported on Friday.

The member state with the highest share in 2019 was Denmark with 56 per cent of all enterprises, followed by Ireland, France and Sweden, all 39 per cent.

By contrast, less than 5 per cent of the enterprises were insured against ICT security incidents in Bulgaria (3 per cent), Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia (all 4 per cent).

Italy has the same share as Cyprus, 13 per cent, while Latvia, with 12 per cent, is next on the list.

“In 2019, 21 per cent of EU enterprises with 10 or more people employed reported having insurance against ICT security incidents. The share varies from 20 per cent of small enterprises and 28 per cent of medium enterprises to 35 per cent of large enterprises. This can be partially explained by the fact that large enterprises are more likely to be affected by problems resulting from ICT security incidents,” the report explained.

12 per cent of small enterprises in Cyprus were insured against such incidents last year, 19 per cent of medium-sized businesses and 39 per cent of large ones.

The average of 13 per cent can be explained by the fact that the country has few large enterprises and the overwhelming majority are small.

According to Eurostat, small enterprises are those where 10 to 49 people are employed, medium-sized enterprises employ 50 to 249 persons and large enterprises are defined as employing 250 or more.