The insurance industry is considerably less concerned about “silent cyber” exposure than it was last year, with claims expectations down across insurance lines and industry groups, a new survey has revealed.

The finding applies to all commercial lines of business and industry groups, according to Willis Re’s “2019 Silent Cyber Risk Outlook” annual global survey.

“Silent cyber” refers to exposures lying in policies which don’t specify whether losses arising from an attack are affirmatively covered.

“The significant fall in silent-cyber claims expectations among respondents could result from an absence of wide-scale cyber events in the 12 months prior to the survey,” Willis Re says.

The survey measures the expectation of more than 600 insurance professionals who were asked whether cyber exposures will increase the likelihood of a covered claim over the next 12 months under insurance policies not specifically designed to cover cyber risk.

Perceived cyber risk by industry group is lower across the board in the latest survey.

In property, the number of respondents expecting more than one new cyber claim for every 100 non-cyber claims has decreased by 26 percentage points. Other liability as a class is now broadly perceived as more vulnerable to cyber risk than property, Willis Re says.

The survey finds respondents are more likely to expect more cyber-related claims when accounts are large, and to expect a decline when they are small.