Panaseer, an enterprise security company, has released its latest report on the state of the cyber-insurance industry. The survey of global insurers across the UK and US found that 82% are expecting the rise in premiums to continue, with 74% of insurers agreeing that their inability to accurately understand a customer’s security posture is impacting price increases. Insurers also see the increasing cost of ransomware as a leading factor (78%) affecting premium rises, with largest ransom pay-outs by insurers in the last two years averaging £3.26 million in the UK and US$3.52 million in the US.
The cyber landscape is continuously evolving. Ransomware is now considered the greatest cyber threat to the UK, while the US was the most targeted region in 2021, accounting for 53% of all ransomware attacks globally. To help combat the ransomware crisis, Panaseer found that 87% of insurers want a consistent approach to analysing cyber-risk and 89% want direct access to customer security metrics and measures proving the status of security controls.
As explained by Andreas Wuchner, a cybersecurity and risk expert and advisor to Panaseer, “Metrics and measures will absolutely have a bigger role in insurance. There is a new market developing where insurers will offer a reduction on pricing if you provide a quarterly report through a specific security platform, because they know it’s a good product that helps to improve cyber hygiene. It is likely we will see the old way of doing cyber insurance coming under pressure, as there are smaller, more agile organisations capable of doing more and offering support.”
