In the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s recent report, the canadian insurance market officials revealed that market conditions have stabilized following many years of elevated claims and underwriting, individual claims continue to be large and that cyber risk is increasingly shaped by shared technology, especially for small and medium enterprises such as collision repair shops.
“Given the important role SMEs play in Canada’s economy and supply chains, improving cyber preparedness and increasing awareness of cyber insurance remain critical priorities. This becomes increasingly important as SMEs adopt AI-enabled tools and services, which can provide significant business benefits but may also introduce cyber risks that organizations need to understand and manage,” said Mahan Azimi, the director of catastrophic and emerging risk policy with IBC.
AI can be a great tool for many things, especially in the automotive industry. However, the very same technology has unfortunately made it easier for certain scams and phishing practices to take place in a business environment if certain security measures are not implemented, such as purchasing cyber insurance.
Potential cyber losses can be detrimental to businesses, especially small or medium sized ones, such as many repair shops across Canada. According to the report, potential risk areas specific to cyber attacks include losses occurring in multiple locations, shared technologies creating correlated losses and the fact that threats and attacks are evolving rapidly compared to earlier cyber attacks before the age of AI.
According to the report, only 22% of SMEs had cyber insurance in 2025, and only 12% had stand-alone insurance. And only half of SMEs surveyed noted having implemented basic cyber security measures.
IBC created a self-assessment tool available here to check your business’s readiness and ability to find the right coverage. IBC has also developed a cyber insurance guide for you to learn more.
