By Preeti Vasishtha
On average, I receive two to three text messages on my phone every day urging me to click on a link to ensure that I receive a package I never ordered or to respond to a fictitious message from my bank asking me to confirm some information. That’s just the phone. The spam folder of my email is equally replete with phishing attempts, spoofed messages, and bogus login pages that seem just authentic enough to fool almost anyone.
This experience is hardly unique. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group’s “Phishing Activity Trends Report, Q2 2025,” more than 1 million phishing attacks were recorded globally in the second quarter of 2025—up 13% from the first quarter of the year and the highest level observed since mid-2023. Most campaigns were aimed at harvesting individual credentials through email and SMS messages. At this scale, cyber risk has become a constant feature of everyday digital life.
Zoom out, and the terrain becomes even more complex. In the United States alone, these tactics translate into staggering real-world losses. According to the FBI’s “2024 Internet Crime Report,” U.S. individuals reported nearly 860,000 cybercrime complaints in 2024, resulting in $16.6 billion in losses. Phishing-driven schemes were the most frequently reported category at 193,407 complaints—well more than double the next-closest crime type (extortion, 86,415 complaints).
Internationally, global cybercrime damage was projected to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, according to Cybercrime Magazine. From fashion houses guarding customer data to financial firms weathering business-email compromise, cyber risk has become a universal economic vulnerability cutting across industries.
This backdrop of pervasive and accelerating threat helps frame the insights in this month’s cover story, “The Economic Impact of Extreme Cyber Risks.” While the largest modeled losses are substantial, author Martin Eling finds that they remain within the bounds of insurability. Using scenarios that range from widespread ransomware outbreaks to multi-sector IT failures, Eling presents a framework for estimating potential losses from extreme cyber events—and underscores why insurers, risk managers, and policymakers must act before these disruptions cascade across the broader economy.
I also want to highlight the job seeker feature, “Breaking Boundaries,” which explores how actuarial rigor, combined with technology, communication, and risk-taking, is opening doors to nontraditional careers. What makes this article worth your time is not just the range of roles it profiles, but how it shows that actuarial thinking travels—rigor, judgment, and comfort with uncertainty remain essential even as the contexts change. Whether these professionals are working in technology firms, startups, academia, or hybrid roles that didn’t exist a decade ago, the foundation is familiar: rigorous analysis and the ability to explain risk clearly to decision-makers.
In a similar way, Tricia Matson’s President’s Message shows how actuaries are exceptionally well positioned to use their skills to address ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in risk assessment, pricing, and risk management.
The issue of where actuarial expertise applies—and how far it extends—comes into focus in William J. Michalisin’s CEO Insights, “Why Global Engagement Strengthens the Actuarial Profession,” which considers what a global profession means for an organization such as the Academy that has a clear U.S. mission. He argues that global engagement is essential as the profession navigates common challenges ranging from climate risk to AI.
As you read this issue, one that covers far more ground than I can capture here, consider how both risks and opportunities are showing up in your own work. Where are you seeing cyber risk test existing models—or expose their limits? Which assumptions feel increasingly fragile? And on the opportunities side, how are you applying your actuarial skills in new ways or new settings?
We want to hear from you. Your insights and experiences will help shape future conversations in these pages and highlight not only how the profession is responding to emerging risks, but also how actuaries are creating opportunities by rethinking where and how their expertise can make the greatest impact. Drop us a line at editor@actuary.org.
Preeti Vasishtha is editor-in-chief, Contingencies, and the Academy’s director of content.