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Inflation worries could deflect attention from climate change and cyber attack threats

11/11/2022

New data from the World Economic Forum (WEF) says inflation and debt have now emerged as major threats, but their latest Global Risks Report warns these should not be allowed deflect attention from the continuing concerns over climate change and cyberattacks.


The Global Risks Report 2022, 17th Edition, is published by the WEF and polled more than 12,000 business leaders from 22 countries, ahead of COP27 in Egypt and the G20 summit in Indonesia. It’s findings focus on the impact of inflation in the G20 countries, however, another major worry is “climate action failure” which the report says is the “number one long-term threat to the world and the risk with potentially the most severe impacts over the next decade.”


With a rapid world-wide expansion of digitisation, the report flags up the danger of creating a “blind spot” to the threat of cyber-attacks following a worrying increase in worldwide attacks, including state sponsored incidents. Global cyber-attacks were reported to have increased by 125%  in 2021 while an estimated 236.1 million ransomware attacks were recorded worldwide in the first half of 2022.


According to the WEF Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2022, more than 50% of respondents indicated that ransomware was one of their biggest concerns when it comes to cyberthreats and 80% stressed that ransomware is a dangerous and growing threat to public safety. As a result, it is predicted the global cyber insurance market will grow from a worth of Euros 6.0 billion ($7bn) in gross written premiums (GWP) in 2020 to Euros 20.4 billion ( $20.6bn) by 2025.


The Global Risks Report 2022 report takes a broader view of potential and current threats and said: “Respondents again signal societal and environmental risks as the most concerning. However, over a 10-year horizon, the health of the planet dominates concerns: environmental risks are perceived to be the five most critical long-term threats to the world as well as the most potentially damaging to people and planet, with “climate action failure”, “extreme weather”, and “biodiversity loss” ranking as the top three most severe risks.


“Respondents also signalled “debt crises” and “geoeconomic confrontations” as among the most severe risks over the next 10 years. Technological risks—such as “digital inequality” and “cybersecurity failure”—are other critical short- and medium-term threats to the world according to GRPS respondents, but these fall back in the rankings towards the long term and none appear among the most potentially severe, signalling a possible blind spot in risk perceptions.”


Inflation was the most commonly cited top risk in the report, with 37% of G20 countries identifying it as a top concern, while other respondents cited the potential for state collapse and a lack of widespread digital services and digital inequality.


A strategically delivered W Denis Europe insurance policy will help minimise business disruption during a cyber incident and its aftermath, as well as potentially covering the financial costs of some elements of dealing with the attack and recovering from it. For further information visit www.wdenis.eu or contact Vida Jarašiūnaitė Vida.Jarasiunaite@wdenis.eu or Mark Dutton mark.dutton@wdenis.com

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