IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v71y2025ics1544612324013904.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stock-Term market impact of major cyber-attacks: Evidence for the ten most exposed insurance firms to cyber risk

Author

Listed:
  • Martins, António Miguel
  • Moutinho, Nuno

Abstract

The main focus of this paper is to study empirically the impact of major cyberattacks in the market value of the ten most exposed insurers to cyber risk. Using an event study for 53 global cyberattacks, we observe a negative and statistically significant stock price reaction for insurers around the cyberattack disclosure dates. The increase in the assessed probability of an increase in future payments tends to prevail over the increase in demand and/or premiums caused by the disclosure of global major cyberattacks. The results of our analysis also show a higher negative stock market reaction for small insurers and when involves financial information loss.

Suggested Citation

  • Martins, António Miguel & Moutinho, Nuno, 2025. "Stock-Term market impact of major cyber-attacks: Evidence for the ten most exposed insurance firms to cyber risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:71:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324013904
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106361
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324013904
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106361?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shackelford, Scott J., 2012. "Should your firm invest in cyber risk insurance?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 349-356.
    2. Alina Sorescu & Nooshin L. Warren & Larisa Ertekin, 2017. "Event study methodology in the marketing literature: an overview," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 186-207, March.
    3. Namgyoo K. Park, 2004. "A guide to using event study methods in multi‐country settings," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(7), pages 655-668, July.
    4. Christian Eckert & Nadine Gatzert & Madeline Schubert, 2023. "Analyzing spillover effects from data breaches to the US (cyber) insurance industry," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 669-692, April.
    5. Corbet, Shaen & Gurdgiev, Constantin, 2019. "What the hack: Systematic risk contagion from cyber events," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. Eckert, Christian & Gatzert, Nadine & Heidinger, Dinah, 2020. "Empirically assessing and modeling spillover effects from operational risk events in the insurance industry," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 72-83.
    7. Martin Eling & Werner Schnell, 2016. "What do we know about cyber risk and cyber risk insurance?," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(5), pages 474-491, November.
    8. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    9. Hao Jiang & Naveen Khanna & Qian Yang & Jiayu Zhou, 2024. "The Cyber Risk Premium," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(12), pages 8791-8817, December.
    10. Tosun, Onur Kemal, 2021. "Cyber-attacks and stock market activity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Kamiya, Shinichi & Kang, Jun-Koo & Kim, Jungmin & Milidonis, Andreas & Stulz, René M., 2021. "Risk management, firm reputation, and the impact of successful cyberattacks on target firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 719-749.
    12. Adrian Baldwin & Iffat Gheyas & Christos Ioannidis & David Pym & Julian Williams, 2017. "Contagion in cyber security attacks," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(7), pages 780-791, July.
    13. Eli Amir & Shai Levi & Tsafrir Livne, 2018. "Do firms underreport information on cyber-attacks? Evidence from capital markets," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1177-1206, September.
    14. Jens Foerderer & Sebastian W. Schuetz, 2022. "Data Breach Announcements and Stock Market Reactions: A Matter of Timing?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7298-7322, October.
    15. Christian Biener & Martin Eling & Jan Hendrik Wirfs, 2015. "Insurability of Cyber Risk: An Empirical Analysis†," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 40(1), pages 131-158, January.
    16. Anat Hovav & John D'Arcy, 2003. "The Impact of Denial‐of‐Service Attack Announcements on the Market Value of Firms," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 6(2), pages 97-121, September.
    17. Xuanjuan Chen & Helen Doerpinghaus & Bing‐Xuan Lin & Tong Yu, 2008. "Catastrophic Losses and Insurer Profitability: Evidence From 9/11," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 75(1), pages 39-62, March.
    18. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1985. "Using daily stock returns : The case of event studies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-31, March.
    19. Moser, Stefanie & Brauneis, Alexander, 2023. "Should you listen to crypto YouTubers?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    20. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:1:p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Karen M. Hogan & Gerard T. Olson & Jackson D. Mills & Peter A. Zaleski, 2023. "An Analysis of Cyber Breaches and Effects on Shareholder Wealth," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 51-78, January.
    22. Brown, Stephen J. & Warner, Jerold B., 1980. "Measuring security price performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 205-258, September.
    23. Martins, António Miguel, 2024. "Short-term market impact of crypto firms’ bankruptcies on cryptocurrency markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Akyildirim, Erdinc & Conlon, Thomas & Corbet, Shaen & Hou, Yang (Greg), 2024. "HACKED: Understanding the stock market response to cyberattacks," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    2. Monica Martinez-Blasco & Vanessa Serrano & Francesc Prior & Jordi Cuadros, 2023. "Analysis of an event study using the Fama–French five-factor model: teaching approaches including spreadsheets and the R programming language," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-34, December.
    3. Cao, Hung & Phan, Hieu V. & Silveri, Sabatino, 2024. "Data breach disclosures and stock price crash risk: Evidence from data breach notification laws," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    4. Lorraine Eden & Stewart R. Miller & Sarfraz Khan & Robert J. Weiner & Dan Li, 2022. "The event study in international business research: Opportunities, challenges, and practical solutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(5), pages 803-817, July.
    5. Nicolau, Juan Luis & Sharma, Abhinav, 2022. "A review of research into drivers of firm value through event studies in tourism and hospitality: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research curated collection on drivers of firm value through event stu," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. Nadine Gatzert & Madeline Schubert, 2022. "Cyber risk management in the US banking and insurance industry: A textual and empirical analysis of determinants and value," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(3), pages 725-763, September.
    7. Zängerle, Daniel & Schiereck, Dirk, 2022. "Modelling and predicting enterprise‑level cyber risks in the context of sparse data availability," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 136276, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    8. Daniel Zängerle & Dirk Schiereck, 2023. "Modelling and predicting enterprise-level cyber risks in the context of sparse data availability," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(2), pages 434-462, April.
    9. Maneenop, Sakkakom & Kotcharin, Suntichai, 2020. "The impacts of COVID-19 on the global airline industry: An event study approach," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Sanae Ait Jillali & Mohammed Belkasseh, 2023. "IPOs performance evaluation: Which methodology to opt for?," Post-Print halshs-04322482, HAL.
    11. Michael McShane & Trung Nguyen, 2020. "Time-varying effects of cyberattacks on firm value," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 45(4), pages 580-615, October.
    12. Chris Florackis & Christodoulos Louca & Roni Michaely & Michael Weber, 2023. "Cybersecurity Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(1), pages 351-407.
    13. Brho, Mazen & Jazairy, Amer & Glassburner, Aaron V., 2025. "The finance of cybersecurity: Quantitative modeling of investment decisions and net present value," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    14. Aldasoro, Iñaki & Gambacorta, Leonardo & Giudici, Paolo & Leach, Thomas, 2022. "The drivers of cyber risk," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. António Miguel Martins & Pedro Correia & Ricardo Gouveia, 2024. "The impact of the Russia–Ukraine war on the world’s largest listed insurance firms," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 49(4), pages 779-803, October.
    16. Restrepo-Ochoa, Diana Constanza & Peña, Juan Ignacio, 2020. "The impact of forced divestments on parent company stock prices: Buy on the rumor, sell on the news?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    17. Pushpanjali Kaul & Sangeeta Arora, 2022. "Reinventing a brand’s identity: effect of name and logo announcements on the stock price of Indian banks," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(3), pages 258-270, May.
    18. Martin Eling & Michael McShane & Trung Nguyen, 2021. "Cyber risk management: History and future research directions," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 24(1), pages 93-125, March.
    19. Willem Thorbecke, 2020. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the U.S. Economy: Evidence from the Stock Market," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-30, October.
    20. Rezaee, Zabihollah & Zhou, Gaoguang & Bu, Luofan (Luther), 2024. "Corporate social irresponsibility and the occurrence of data breaches: A stakeholder management perspective," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:71:y:2025:i:c:s1544612324013904. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.