A Harris Poll survey of 500 risk decision-making business leaders commissioned by insurance firm Chubb shows business leaders most worried about cybersecurity as an impediment to growth.
Cyber breaches and data leaks -- cited by 40 percent of executive respondents -- far outpaced other man-made growth disruptors including accidents, regulations, social unrest and hazmat exposures as a concern, while no other risk factor was mentioned by more than 25 percent.
Similarly, cybersecurity was the leading geopolitical risk, cited by 60 percent of executives, while resource scarcity, climate change, political instability and other risks all scored near or below 40 percent.
The report established that 86 percent of companies already have or will soon adopt business interruption coverage for events like cyberattacks, natural disasters or supply chain disruptions with 53 percent having coverage in place, and another third plan to add it in the next 12 months.
Executives surveyed acknowledged the challenge of effectively managing the breadth of emerging and evolving risks, with more than one-third believing that their company isn't either extremely or very effective at mitigating risk.
Three-in-four executives at large companies cited cybersecurity as the top risk to growth.
Monitoring cyber incidents and events is the most commonly deployed risk mitigation tool in the arsenal of businesses, with 84 percent of executives saying it is either a fully-integrated/essential function in their organization (41 percent) or used regularly (43 percent) with another 14 percent using it in some situations.
A solid majority of companies (79 percent) are implementing artificial intelligence (AI) within their risk management, though most express concern about AI-related risks, such as deepfakes, with over 50 percent stating their company has been impacted.
For executives prioritizing technology, data integrity (56 percent) and digital transformation challenges (53 percent) were the top concerns, especially among middle-market businesses (60 percent).
Roughly 60 percent of executives point to cash flow and (56 percent) cite inflation and interest rates as significant obstacles to growth, with cash flow problems (70 percent) particularly impacting small businesses, according to the report.
Nine-in-10 executives said they plan to expand cyber insurance coverage to address the increasing threat of technological vulnerabilities.