Due to the major increase in ransomware attacks and their multimillion dollar payouts, qualifying for a cyber insurance policy isn’t as simple as a phone call to a provider. But how can you do your best to qualify at a fair price?

The Market in the Past Few Years 

The average cost of insured cyber attacks increased by 22% in 2020, and 77% in 2021. Although 77% may sound like a lot, the rates for cyber insurance grew even quicker with the average at a 128% increase in September of 2021. Along with that, the limits that insurance companies were offering decreased by 23%. The market has also been addressing the losses incurred in 2019, as the market unexpectedly took a hit following renewals. 

How to Qualify for Cyber Security Coverage

In order to qualify for cyber insurance in today’s market, your organization/business must be practicing thorough cybersecurity preparations. It is important to put 12 security controls in place that address basic cyber security. Without being able to prove the high efforts your organization goes through to protect against a cyber attacks, it will be difficult to qualify for cyber insurance. The five absolutely necessary cybersecurity controls to put in place are as follows:

1. Multi factor authentication for remote access/admin controls 
2. Email filtering and web security 
3. Secured, encrypted, and tested backups
4. Privileged access management 
5. Endpoint detection and response 

The seven other (basically) necessary cybersecurity controls:

1. Logging and monitoring/network connections
2. End of life systems protected or replaced
3. Hardening techniques
4. Phishing and cybersecurity awareness testing 
5. Cyber incident response planning 
6. Vulnerability and patch management 
7. Digital/vendor supply chain risk management 

In order to be considered for cyber coverage, it is required to have the first five controls, however you are better off having all 12.

The cyber insurance market is growing at a much higher rate than other types of insurance, and it is especially important to make sure you’re covered in this time of high attacks.

Business professionals: what’s in your coverage?