After 20 years of being urged to embrace the internet, many corporates have decided the risks of operating online are not worth the pain, according to Marsh.

Data security and cyber crime threats are leading to “digital disintegration’, as individuals and companies withdraw from the web.

“Organisations are retreating because it’s too uncertain and too expensive to protect yourself,” Marsh Risk Consulting GM Pacific Costa Zakis told the Australian launch of this year’s World Economic Forum Global Risks Report.

He says even young people who grew up with the internet have become distrustful of cyberspace. Oliver Wyman Partner David Howard-Jones says some organisations are now buying typewriters to record information that cannot be hacked.

Mr Zakis says it is important organisations do not “avoid the internet and lose the benefits of the flexibility and innovation that can come from using the cyber environment”.

Marsh, Zurich and Swiss Re are among the groups that contributed to the Global Risks Report, which lists the top five threats identified by 700 respondents. They are income disparity, extreme weather events, unemployment and underemployment, climate change and cyber attacks.

Trends to watch include declining trust in institutions, lack of leadership, gender inequalities and data mismanagement. Respondents’ biggest concerns relate to fiscal crises in key economies, employment issues and water crises.