Cybersecurity and the Interconnectedness of Infastructure Tops List of Emerging Risks

For the fourth year in a row, cybersecurity and the interconnectedness of infrastructure was named as the top emerging risk in an anonymous international survey of actuaries.

The “11th Annual Survey of Emerging Risks,” issued by the Casualty Actuarial Society, Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries’ Joint Risk Management Section, asked a group of approximately 220 risk managers to weigh in on everything from terrorism and financial volatility to regional instability and asset price collapse.

Ranking Emerging Risks

Since 2014, cybersecurity and the interconnectedness of infrastructure has led the pack of imminent risks, though the percentages have stabilized somewhat. Cyberthreats represented the top concern for 65 percent of those surveyed in 2015, for example, but this number fell to 53 percent in 2016 and remained constant in 2017.

After cybersecurity, terrorism, technology, regional instability and asset price collapse rounded out the list of the top five emerging risks. Financial volatility, meanwhile, fell off of the list in 2017 despite holding the No. 2 spot for the three previous years.

The survey asked actuaries to identify the top current risk, emerging risk and “risk combinations.” Cyber/interconnectedness of infrastructure was the No. 1 choice across all categories, including the “Top Risk Combinations” category, where it was paired with technology. Terrorism and cyber/interconnectedness of infrastructure also placed third on this list.

Looking Toward the Future

The authors noted that there is a difference between looking at emerging risks that could affect our short-term future and those that might pose problems for the next generation. Looking out to 2050, for example, 30 percent of respondents cited geopolitical issues as their top concern, while technological risk ranked lower at 23 percent.

The Joint Risk Management Section, which convened several associations to conduct the survey, said it would release additional results with more open-ended answers from respondents later this year.

Shane Schick

Writer & Editor

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