As the second quarter of 2026 gets underway, cyber insurance trends are already pointing in a new direction, with cyber-enabled fraud surpassing ransomware as the risk causing the biggest concern for C-suite executives. This shift underscores the reality that fraud losses continue to balloon and that many policyholders are surprised that these losses are often covered only in part, or not at all, under many cyber insurance policies.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 report, a recent survey of C-suite executives found that fraud and phishing have overtaken ransomware as the top cyber risks worrying CEOs, especially in organizations with less developed cybersecurity resilience. This represents a noticeable shift from 2025, when ransomware was the top cyber risk concerning CEOs. The report highlights that 73% of survey…
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.