Companies continue to spend more on property, plant and equipment (PPE) insurance than on cover for cyber assets, despite their belief the latter are more valuable, according to the Aon-sponsored Global Cyber Risk Transfer Comparison Report.

About 64% of senior executives surveyed believe their companies’ exposure to cyber threats will rise in the next two years, but only 24% say management has taken out some form of insurance.

Companies value their cyber assets 14% higher than PPE assets, but they insure on average 59% of PPE losses, compared with just 15% for cyber exposures.

“This unique cyber study found a serious disconnect in risk management,” Larry Ponemon, Chairman of research group Ponemon Institute, said.

Ponemon conducted the study for Aon, interviewing 2168 executives in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Japan and North America.

The research shows the potential loss to cyber assets covered by insurance is about $US979 million ($1.3 billion) on average, compared with PPE assets’ $770 million ($1.03 billion).

About 87% of respondents believe cyber liability is among the top 10 business risks facing their companies.

“We have found that most organisations spend multiples more premium for fire insurance, for example, than for cyber insurance, even though they state in their publicly disclosed documents that a majority of the organisation’s value is attributed to intangible assets,” Aon Risk Solutions’ Cyber/Network Global Practice Leader Kevin Kalinich said.