AI-assisted cyberattacks are the biggest wildcard for Canada’s life insurers, analyst says

Cyber and AI-related threats are evolving faster than almost anything else Canadian life and annuity insurers are contending with right now, according to Kevin Varvaro (pictured), an analyst covering the sector at AM Best.

Official response and confirmed impact

Speaking at AM Best's Insurance Market Briefing in Toronto, Varvaro said the risk isn't just that AI tools are getting more capable.

It's that bad actors are getting access to the same capability insurers themselves rely on.

"You almost need the AI of the [insurance] companies to fight off the AI of these bad actors," Varvaro said.

"It'll be a very quickly changing threat over the next 12 to 24 months.

Trying to keep in tune with where AI is is almost a full-time job in and of itself."

Read more: When AI becomes the product, not the tool – the E&O gap opening

Incident background

That pace of change is part of what makes the risk hard to pin down, Varvaro said, and the closer he gets to people actually working in AI, the more concerned they tend to sound about where it's headed.