Insurance companies face a greater threat from cybercriminals than most industries because they deal with sensitive and valuable data stemming from numerous avenues.

There are a number of reasons that insurance companies are prime targets for cybercriminals.

Firstly, digital channels especially email is now the dominant tool for communicating with customers. Quotes are shared with customers via email, and customer service agents use email to resolve queries, confirm premiums, remind about renewals, send quotes and a host of other communication occurs over email.

Secondly, insurance companies possess large amounts of personal data and financial information, such as credit or debit card and other payment details, about their customers.

The negative fallout from attacks on insurance companies, by cybercriminals using email as their weapon of choice, is twofold: financial and reputational.

Financial damage inflicted on companies may come from fines, legal fees and lawsuits. And significant reputational damage comes in the form of loss of trust, specifically trusting the safety of the information the company holds about them.

When customers are conned by cybercriminals sending emails pretending to be the real company the impact on the brand and market value of the organisations can be catastrophic. A company can lose customers and their ability to attract new customers can be greatly hindered.