Boards risk costly cyber exposure as confidence outpaces preparedness, according to Willis report

SINGAPORE, October 15, 2025 — According to Willis, a WTW business (NASDAQ:WTW), corporate boards often express confidence in their cyber readiness. Yet recent high profile cyber events show how fragile that confidence can be when tested. Willis’s new Cyber in Focus 2025 report, based on 4,650 cyber claims and board-level data, reveals the same story: losses are longer, broader and costlier than leaders expect.

The report, launched during Cyber Security Awareness Month, focuses on four areas boards consistently misjudge:

• Revenue (downtime): Boards assume ransomware outages last days; claims data shows a median 24-day outage and an average ransomware loss of US$2.7M. Every week offline means lost revenue.
• Reputation (vendor risk): Leaders often view vendor risk as secondary, yet 50% of data breaches start with suppliers (MSPs, SaaS, niche vendors). Weak liability, audit and notification clauses drive cost; regulators increasingly expect proof of vendor oversight.
• Resilience (tested readiness): Most boards report having a plan, but only 68% tested it in the past year. Regulators and insurers are looking for evidence that controls work in practice, not policy statements alone.
• Regulation (rising accountability): In Asia Pacific (APAC), the Australian Cyber Security Act and Singapore’s Cybersecurity Act amendments have expanded oversights on regulatory measures to address evolving cyber threats. Emerging frameworks, including the new critical-infrastructure legislation in Hong Kong and enhancements to Australia’s Security of Critical Infrastructure laws are also raising expectations on governance, incident response and disclosure. Several other markets are also introducing SEC-style incident disclosure rules.

Additional findings include:

• Public companies account for 36% of total losses globally despite fewer incidents.
• The largest single claim reached US$331M; Boards highlight AI’s upside, but claims already show deepfakes, synthetic IDs, and generative malware being used to commit fraud.

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Regulators, shareholders and stakeholders will expect organisations to adopt cyber risk strategies that encompass security controls, governance frameworks, human factors and technical resilience.”

Ben DiMarco | Cyber & Technology Industry Leader, Pacific, Willis

Ben DiMarco, Cyber & Technology Industry Leader, Pacific, Willis,  said: “Boards and senior management must grapple with a complex threat environment as well as expanding regulatory demands, increasing cyber incident losses and heightened cybercrime exposures. These factors require business leaders to develop more joined-up and holistic strategies. Ultimately, regulators, shareholders and stakeholders will expect organisations to adopt cyber risk strategies that encompass security controls, governance frameworks, human factors and technical resilience.

“Our study indicated that some boards are underestimating these challenges. Insurers are increasingly examining these areas, scrutinising an organisation’s foundational cyber hygiene, vendor oversight practices, business continuity planning and incident response testing. In this environment, boards must focus on robust evidence based strategies that will protect their organisations and avoid market hardships.”

Peter Foster, Chairman, Global FINEX Cyber and Cyber Risk Solutions, Willis, said: “Boards often believe cyber risk is contained, but the data proves otherwise. Untested plans, weak vendor contracts, and unclear wordings are exactly where firms lose money, reputation, and regulatory standing. The cost of untested resilience shows up in lost revenue, shareholder disputes, and fines and it’s rising faster than boards expect. Ransomware simulations, vendor analytics, AI governance, and policy optimisation can help bridge the gap between confidence and reality.”

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