For large enterprises, cyber policies are increasing the cost of doing business. Large firms such as Equifax, Marriott, and SolarWinds all had coverage to cushion their hits from high-profile data breaches. Smaller enterprises may not have the coverage. With that in mind, I went shopping. Also: What is cyber insurance? Everything you need to know | Cyber insurance roundtable: Why cyber insurance has a supply issue
The future of cyber insurance
I have a few working theories about the cyber insurance market: AXA also provides risk mitigation resources via partners, as well as an online service called CyberRiskConnect. Here’s a sample policy.
CyberEdge, which covers the financial costs due to a breach, as well as first-party costs.CyberEdge Plus, which covers physical world losses caused by a cyber event, including business interruption and property damages. CyberEdge PC, which can be added to traditional property and casualty policies.
AIG also offers threat scoring and analytics, as well as tools to prevent attacks. AIG has a network of vendors to restore and recover, too. The company, which recently raised $100 million in venture funding, uses a broker-focused approach to use AI to analyze data to predict and prevent loss. The data Corvus brings together helps policyholders, underwriters, brokers, and reinsurers address market requirements. Phil Edmundson, CEO of Corvus, said that artificial intelligence and data science can simplify the cyber insurance workflow. “If you try to read a cyber policy, even knowledgeable people would find it challenging,” he said. The company bundles pre- and post-breach services provided by Symantec, as well as a hub to evaluate risks. Travelers’ policies fall into these categories:
CyberRisk, a broad policy for companies of all sizes that can be standalone or part of another liability policy.CyberRisk Tech for Technology Companies, designed for tech firms.CyberRisk for Public Entities, a policy aimed at municipalities, counties, utilities, and transit authorities.CyberFirst Essentials, a policy for small businesses that can be standalone or part of a broader business owner policy.
Beazley’s headliner is Beazley Breach Response, which is a customized policy based on a company’s situation. Beazley claims to be the “world’s best designed cyber insurance solution.” Beazley also covers breach response services for up to five million people. For companies in specific industries, Beazley looks like an option. Beazley counts healthcare, higher education, hospitality, financial services, and retail as target industries. Cyber insurance companies may also shortchange the mid-market. Resilience offers cyber insurance with a few interesting perks. First, it combines insurance and expertise like the large players. And second, Resilience includes a program where customers can earn credit to put toward security services and products. According to Hiscox, its cyber insurance covers lost business revenue and data recovery costs, money lost to phishing, defense against fines and privacy lawsuits, and breach response. The Hiscox policies also include digital media upgrades. However, they do not cover criminal action, fund transfer, infrastructure interruption, or prior acts of knowledge.
This year – 2021 – will be the year that cyber insurance evolves significantly. It’s possible that cyber insurance will become a requirement for businesses, much like home and auto.The market is dominated by massive insurers targeting large enterprises, but there will be segments of the market targeting mid-sized and smaller businesses.Cyber insurance could be part of a cloud services stack. For instance, Google Cloud’s partnership with Munich Re and Allianz is a start, but cyber insurance could be resold by cloud providers, web hosting, and other parts of the business technology stack.While cyber insurance may become part of a tech bundle, or at least easier to acquire, there will be multiple players gunning for policies in a fragmented market. Reportlinker projects that cyber insurance will be a $70.6 billion global market in 2030, up $5.6 billion in 2019.
In any case, cyber insurance scouting needs to commence for businesses. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the top 20 cyber insurance providers accounted for 92% of the market in the US.
More notable providers
There is a bevy of other providers – and many insurers offer cyber insurance as part of a broader package of business offerings. Among those that looked interesting:
ChubbBerkshire Hathaway Group’s Three small business insurance portfolioLiberty MutualCNA
