The Association of British Insurers believes cyber cover will become as commonly purchased as property insurance within a decade.

Director-General Huw Evans admits take-up is still low – only about 10% of British businesses have cyber insurance – but he warns the risk is growing rapidly and breaches can cost millions.

“By 2025 this type of cover will be seen as an essential business purchase,” he said.

However, a KPMG survey suggests new cyber products are met with scepticism.

A poll of senior information security professionals, whose organisations are members of KPMG’s International Information Integrity Institute, shows 74% have no cyber cover.

The most common reason is a belief insurers will not pay out on claims.

These fears were raised at a UK online security summit recently, where one panellist said cyber insurance is “not worth the paper it’s written on”.

“Car insurance, there’s a tangible way of measuring that, cyber insurance you can’t,” NTT Com Security’s Global Director of Security Strategy Garry Sidaway said.

“So for me it’s a difficult one to justify. I can understand why people are going that way, but actually when it comes to a breach or an incident, then it’s really not worth the paper it’s written on.”