It hardly takes a high-tech guruto deduct that 2017 was a year when cybersecurity concerns causedbusinesses of all sizes to quake over losses both real andanticipated.

“Cybersecurity is as big an issue as there's ever been in theinsurance industry,” said Adam Hamm, managing director of globalconsultancy at Protiviti, former president of the NationalAssociation of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and past chairman ofthat group's Cybersecurity Task Force. “At least over the lastgeneration, I've never seen an issue that's bigger thancybersecurity, because we're talking about breach after breachafter breach.”

Year-end financial reports support Hamm's hypothesis. Considerthat analysts behind Deloitte's “2018 Insurance Regulatory Outlook”and “2018 Insurance Outlook” determined that cyber crimes costfinancial services businesses more than ever before. Despiteextensive efforts to minimize cyber crime, financial services stillexperienced the highest average annualized cost of cyber crime byindustry sector at $18.28 billion. This is 6% higher thansecond-ranked utilities and energy, and 26% more than aerospace anddefense companies, which rank third.