Cyber risk awareness of German SMEs : an empirical study on the influence of biases and heuristics
Alina Salzberger
The number of successful cyberattacks against small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is increasing steadily, while various studies already showed that especially SMEs often lack an appropriate awareness concerning their own cyber risk exposure. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the cyber risk perception of German SMEs and investigate the influence of biases and heuristics on German SMEs' cyber risk awareness. This is done based on a questionnaire survey among 1,540 owners and managers of German SMEs with up to 250 employees. The results show that perceived probabilities for cyberattacks against the own enterprise are significantly lower rated than for comparable organizations, which indicates the influence of an optimistic bias with respect to risk estimates. Additionally, perceived cyber risk also varies significantly depending on direct and indirect experience as well as the stated degree of confidence in one's own cyber risk management capabilities, indicating the presence of the availability heuristic and the overconfidence bias in cyber risk perceptions.
Year of publication: |
2024
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Authors: | Salzberger, Alina |
Published in: |
Zeitschrift für die gesamte Versicherungswissenschaft. - Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, ISSN 1865-9748, ZDB-ID 2425530-0. - Vol. 113.2024, 1, p. 55-104
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Subject: | Cyber risk perception | cyber risk awareness | SMEs | Biases | Heuristics | Behavioral Influences | KMU | SME | IT-Kriminalität | IT crime | Datensicherheit | Data security | Risikomanagement | Risk management | Deutschland | Germany | Heuristik | Wahrnehmung | Perception | Risikopräferenz | Risk attitude | Systematischer Fehler | Bias |
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