The panel described real-life examples and anecdotes, and offered some best practices individuals and businesses can take to safeguard their personal information against some of today's biggest cyber risks.

Patrick Thielen, Senior Vice President, Cyber and Technology Product Lead in North America for Chubb, led the panel discussion among cyber security industry.  "Global economic costs of cyber crime are rising into the trillions of dollars annually," said Mr. Thielen. "A large portion of that falls squarely on the shoulders of consumers."

According to various reports, since 2005, there have been more than 8,000 reported data breaches of businesses in which more than 10 billion consumer records have been compromised. In addition, 64% of American adults have been victimised by one or more of these breaches.

Those stats further underscore the vulnerability of our society. According to the recent 2018 Chubb Cyber Risk Survey, 86 % of respondents reported being concerned about cyber incidents, but most underestimated or were unaware of the most common cyber threats – and very few were taking basic precautions to mitigate cyber risk.

"As consumers, we weren't prepared for it, didn't ask for it, didn't want it, but we have it," said Mr  Adam Levin, Chairman and Founder of Cyberscout, speaking of cyber security issues. "As a result, it is incumbent upon all of us to work together, for businesses and government to help educate consumers, for consumers to educate ourselves and to be willing to take the extra step."

"The cyber security industry is evolving and maturing," said Ms Summer Craze Fowler, Technical Director of Cybersecurity Risk and Resilience at Carnegie Mellon. "When we buy a car, we know that it has airbags and anti-lock brakes; when we buy a lamp and plug it into the wall, we know that it's not going to catch on fire. It is time for individuals, companies and the government to establish best practices, so that when we buy something that connects to the internet, we know it has certain cyber protections."

Mr Michael Keen, Vice President, ADT Cybersecurity noted that according to AV Test, over 350,000 strands of malware are created every single day. "The point of emphasis here and the reason why there's so much cyber crime is because it's easy and because it pays. If you are not evolving at an equal pace, you're continuing to be left at risk."

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices also adds a new layer of threat to privacy and data protection. "What we know about cyber criminals is they'll always take the path of least resistance," said Mr. Keen. "What we're seeing is the vulnerability of your network is really the strength of the weakest device on your network."

And there is a huge financial impact. Ms. Fowler points to data from the Identity Theft Research Center: over the past year, 26 % of people who were impacted by a breach had to borrow money from a relative or friend; 22% had to take time off of work; 15% had to sell some possessions in order to pay back for the costs of what they've gone through; and, 7% of people actually took out a payday loan.

The panel shared cost-effective ways to help prevent cyber risks and what people can do to protect themselves, their families and their employees. "We boil it down to three M's -- minimize, monitor and manage," said Mr. Levin. "It is about minimizing your risk of exposure through adopting best practices, monitoring your accounts effectively and comprehensively, and managing any damage, such as ID theft or stolen accounts that might occur."

Mr. Thielen added, "Cyber insurance for business has existed for about 20 years now. There are several products in the market that offer cyber protection to individuals that cover a range of exposures, including financial fraud, extortion, ransomware, as well as a variety of victimisation types of coverage, such as privacy breaches, cyber bullying and even cyber disruption.