Cyber attacks cause an average loss of 27% in Aon's share value
In the face of intensifying cybercrime and systemic geopolitical risks, Mario Bizzi, Head of A&C Italy & Eastern Mediterranean and Head of Cyber Consulting EMEA, emphasizes the need for robust third-party management and incident resilience. According to Bizzi, traditional internal measures are no longer sufficient.
The Aon Cyber Risk Report 2025, based on extensive data from over 1,400 cyber events and proprietary Cyber Quotient Evaluation technology, sheds light on the increasing financial and reputational impact of cyber risks. The report identifies five key factors for value recovery in mitigating the reputational impacts of cyber risks: preparedness, leadership, swift action, communication, and change.
Reputation risk events, as defined in the report, are computer incidents that attract significant media attention and result in a measurable drop in stock price. These events, which accounted for approximately 4% of the total computer events analyzed, caused an average 27% decline in shareholder value, making recovery efforts crucial.
Malware and ransomware attacks are the most likely to trigger such reputational damage, representing 60% of all reputation risk events, despite being 45% of total incidents. Cyber insurance can help with financial risk, but reputation risk remains largely uninsurable, emphasizing the need for proactive risk management and crisis response.
Companies affected by these reputation risk events saw an average drop of 27% in market value. The report shows that major computer incidents led to an average drop of 9% in market value in the following year. The growing challenge for businesses lies in managing uninsurable risks.
The report highlights that organizations aiming to mitigate reputational damage must focus on enhancing their preparedness, ensuring strong leadership during crises, responding swiftly, maintaining clear communication, and implementing necessary changes post-incident to recover value.
Aon, a global leader in insurance intermediation and risk management consulting, stresses the importance of these critical levers for mitigating reputational impacts. The Cyber Risk Report by Aon underscores the urgency for businesses to adapt their risk management strategies to the evolving cyber threat landscape.
- Other than traditional internal measures, Aon's Cyber Risk Report 2025 underscores the importance of proactive risk management and crisis response in mitigating the reputational impacts of cyber risks.
- In the face of increasing cyber risks and uninsurable reputation threats, Aon suggests that organizations need to focus on enhancing their preparedness, ensuring strong leadership, responding swiftly, maintaining clear communication, and implementing necessary changes, as identified in the report, to recover value.
