Cyber insurance is changing fast. Growing losses and a rapidly evolving risk landscape have prompted insurers to adapt. As a result, it’s a good moment for IT and security professionals to re-examine their approach.
To help you keep ahead of these changes, Dr. Jason R.C. Nurse, Associate Professor in Cyber Security at the University of Kent, has compiled a new report, What’s Next for Cyber Insurance?, that examines three key industry trends and how they might impact your business.
Trend 1: The market will harden further (and that might be good)
The most obvious outcome of the growing risks and loss ratios in cyber insurance is that it is becoming harder to obtain cover cheaply. Potentially, this might mean insurers are more able to nudge companies toward better management of their cyber risk.
Once, fierce competition in the cyber insurance market meant businesses could often choose a competing provider with lower security requirements. Now that’s not so easy – and insurers’ influence over cyber practices could grow as a result.
Trend 2: More insurers are offering pre-breach security support
There’s another way insurers are actively managing the risk they underwrite – while also seeking a competitive advantage. A growing number are offering preventative cybersecurity support, to reduce the chances of a breach.
By offering support to reduce the likelihood of a breach, insurers add value for the customer while reducing their own risk. It’s especially attractive for businesses with less formidable security resources that may not already have these measures in place.
Trend 3: Data collaboration could reveal dynamic risk details
Cyber insurers need more data to quantify risks – and they’re building partnerships to get it. The result could be a more accurate and dynamic view of the immediate threat landscape.
Enhanced risk data could turn insurers’ security questions and requirements into a dynamic checklist helping businesses to tackle immediate threats. But be wary of focusing your defenses too narrowly.
Read the full report
Download the full What’s Next for Cyber Insurance? report to diver deeper into these trends, understand how they might impact your security posture, and get practical advice to support your cyber insurance position.
About the author of the report
Dr. Jason R.C. Nurse is an Associate Professor in Cyber Security at the University of Kent, and a Visiting Academic at the University of Oxford. He has conducted research into cyber insurance since 2016 and the influence of cyber insurance on cybersecurity practice is one of his main current areas of research.
More broadly, his research explores the interdisciplinary nature of cybersecurity, privacy, and trust and considers the impact of new technologies on these areas.
Dr Nurse recently sat down with Sophos’ Paul Ducklin to talk about whether cyber insurance helps or hinders online crime. Listen below!
