Companies must step up their security against cyber attacks following the massive ransomware assault that crippled the UK’s public health system and companies in Europe and the US, experts say.

Businesses should invest more resources in protecting valuable data and mitigating against future attacks, which will only intensify in an increasingly digitalised economy, according to JLT Australia and New Zealand CEO Leo Demer.

“Response to cyber incidents is critical,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “Cyber risks and incident response should form a key component of an organisation’s business continuity and disaster plan.

“While at this time only a small number of Australian organisations appear to be affected, we encourage government and business to audit their existing processes and policies or put necessary practices in place.”

Three Australian businesses are believed to have been hit by the global cyber attack, which has been described as the biggest in history.

“At this stage, it does seem like we have missed the major impact of this ransomware incident,” Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security Dan Tehan told the ABC this morning.

He says ransomware costs the Australian economy about $1 billion a year.

“We have seen an attack across Europe in particular, which has increased the scale of these events,” he said.

“We haven’t seen the like of this before, but ransomware is occurring here in Australia.”

More than 150 countries were hit by the ransomware attack over the weekend, affecting more than 200,000 people.

Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and French car-maker Renault were among the big-name corporations affected.