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The economic damage of a successful major cyber-attack against a large cloud services provider could be similar in scale to the financial impact of a destructive hurricane.
The destructive tropical cyclone hurricane Katrina hit the US in 2005, causing $108bn in damage — but that could be exceeded by the cost of a major cyber-attack, according to one expert.
“To compare the degree of economic cost, estimates now are that if attackers took down a major cloud provider, the damages could be $50bn to $120bn, so something in the range of a Sandy event to a Katrina event,” said John Drzik, president of global risk and digital at insurance broking and risk management company Marsh, speaking at the launch of the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Risks Report 2018.
The analysis by the international body — which brings together business, political, academic, and other leaders to help shape the global agenda — ranks cyber-attacks as a top three risk to society alongside natural disasters and extreme weather.
And, despite…
