FTC observed a decline in high-value claims, indicating that financial institutions are detecting fraud more efficiently by flagging large transactions with greater scrutiny. (Credit: kras99/stock.adobe.com)
The most recent Coalition 2025 Cyber Claims Report indicates that so-called business email compromise (BEC) together with funds transfer fraud remain the most prevalent cyber claims, accounting for 60% of total cyber insurance claims made by the firm’s policyholders in 2024. Ransomware, while still a major risk with average demands still in the millions of dollars, has decreased slightly in frequency and severity. Forty-four percent of Coalition policyholders who suffered ransomware attacks opted to pay the ransom.
|BEC and FTF: The leading causes of cyber insurance claims
Business email compromise, in which cybercriminals use sophisticated social engineering tactics and AI-generated content to impersonate top executives, tricking employees into transferring funds or revealing confidential information, increased in severity by 23%.
For Coalition policyholders specifically, funds transfer fraud (FTF), where victims were convinced to transfer money to fake accounts, cost an average of $185,000 last year. FTC observed a decline in high-value claims, indicating that financial institutions are detecting fraud more efficiently by flagging large transactions with greater scrutiny.
Third-party breaches, where attackers exploit vulnerabilities in vendors, suppliers, or service providers, made up 52% of loss cases last year. In February 2024, third-party ransomware attacks disrupted Change Healthcare, which affected 190 million people, followed by a similar third-party breach impacting CDK Global four months later.
|Ransomware payments decreased, but are still the most costly
Ransomware payment trends shifted last year, with a noticeable decrease in the overall amount paid. Chainalysis reported a 35% decrease in ransomware payments in 2024, dropping to $813 million from $1.25 billion in 2023.
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