Back in 2011 when I founded Cyber Data Risk Managers, most companies stated and felt a cyber attack or data breach could not happen to them, and insurance brokers tended to agree and did not bring up the discussion. Especially when along with their clients, they had no clue as to what cyber insurance policies covered or perhaps they also were not aware that coverage yet existed. Fast forward to today, and cyber insurance has been deemed as the hottest insurance product in history with the greatest growth potential and one that has disrupted the insurance industry in both positive and negative ways.
Nonetheless, cyber insurance is here to stay, and over the years it has been heartening to be front and center, and help facilitate company’s buying trends, and experience the evolving cyber insurance coverage changes.
Candidly, I can recall pretty vividly, when I questioned cyber insurance carrier underwriters 6 years ago at a NetDiligence conference on how they would cover the cloud, and getting that deer in headlights stare… just priceless. Fortunately, today all cyber insurance carriers have addressed that question and many more.
With over 50+ cyber insurance carriers in the marketplace today, purchasing cyber insurance can be an overwhelming process for companies and insurance brokers to grasp due to the non-standard policy forms, complexity of coverages, and the big variation in policy coverages, conditions and exclusions amongst the available cyber insurance offerings.
Indeed, cyber insurance is complex, and like cyber security, as one of my business partners said to me recently “you don’t know, what you don’t know” until an incident, or a claim happens. My take on that is to take as many steps as you can ahead of time to minimize the risks of a potentially damaging incident, or a denied insurance claim.
The take-up of cyber insurance appears to be set to accelerate, and in addition, there are many new cyber insurance entrants that are attempting to attract attention and sending out a message that they’re open and ready to sell cyber insurance. Some even go as extreme as stating you can purchase cyber insurance coverage online, without the help of a broker. Indeed, this approach can be related to the “don’t try this at home” effect. More importantly, it is not one of those approaches your company should take alone. Without the help of an experienced broker’s assistance in reviewing the complex cyber insurance non-standard coverage variations, policy conditions, and exclusions, well as my BP says, “you don’t know, what you don’t know!”
Cyber risk is without doubt, today’s biggest and most damaging risk that companies face, and not one that should be taken lightly.
I’m a big advocate of keeping things simple, and while cyber insurance is my exclusive focus, I’ll be the first one to tell you that cyber insurance is far from simple. Since specializing in cyber insurance, and having firsthand experience selling hundreds of cyber insurance policies, I’ve learned how complex cyber insurance coverages can be and how to keep the process as simple as possible for my clients.
Whether you’re a small company with one owner or a publicly traded company, cyber insurance requires an experienced insurance broker to help your company assess its cyber risk exposures and align those risks with appropriate cyber insurance coverages.
While I would not expect that a medium to large sized company would negligently click on a “buy now” link without the help of a broker – its concerning that small companies are being encouraged to do just that. Today’s small companies have much to lose when a cyber attack or data breach happens, and in that most critical time, it is crucial to have the appropriate cyber insurance coverages and policy conditions in place. If you’re a small company with more than one employee, it would be advisable to document why you purchased the policy did, online and without the help of a broker as you may have some explaining to do when an incident happens that could potentially result in a denied insurance claim.
Indeed, cyber insurance is complex, and regardless of your company size, it takes an experienced cyber insurance broker to help your company obtain the most appropriate cyber insurance coverages, and policy conditions for its needs and to avoid any unnecessary policy exclusions.
You just can’t get that from a “buy now” cyber insurance policy being sold online.
Cyber Data-Risk Managers is a team of experienced cyber insurance brokers that can help your company obtain multiple cyber insurance quotes and help turn a complex policy selection and underwriting process into a simplified one whether purchasing a policy for the first time or renewing an existing one.