New Zealand businesses are not ready to manage cyber incidents, despite ranking breaches among the top five risks they face, according to a Marsh survey.

About 60% see cyber risk as a major threat, but only 22% are “highly confident” they can manage, respond and recover from an attack and 35% understand the stakes.

More than 40% do not assess the cyber risks of vendors and suppliers, and 20% have no idea if they are exposed to risks from their supply chain.

“Cyber risk is a topic that has been talked about for some time given our increasing dependence on technology,” Marsh Head of Specialties Fred Boles said.

“It is therefore surprising that many organisations are still unaware what their cyber risks are, including the risks suppliers pose.”

The Marsh-Microsoft Global Cyber-Risk Perception Survey drew responses from 1312 senior executives in 26 industries. About 75% of respondents worldwide are most worried about business interruption after a cyber attack, followed by reputational damage (59%) and breach of customer information (55%).

Nearly one-third estimate the cost of a cyber attack could run to tens of millions of dollars.

More than 40% of respondents in companies with revenue of $US1 billion ($1.29 billion) or more say an attack could cost them more than $US50 million ($64.6 million).