Cyber Risk Management & Cybersecurity Insurance

Traditional commercial general liability and property insurance policies typically exclude cyber risks from their terms, leading to the emergence of cybersecurity insurance as a “stand alone” line of coverage. That coverage provides protection against a wide range of cyber incident losses that businesses may suffer directly or cause to others, including costs arising from data destruction and/or theft, extortion demands, hacking, denial of service attacks, crisis management activity related to data breaches, and legal claims for defamation, fraud, and privacy violations. Few cybersecurity insurance policies, however, provide businesses with coverage for an area of growing private and public concern: the physical damage and bodily harm that could result from a successful cyber attack against critical infrastructure.

Since 2012, CISA has engaged academia, infrastructure owners and operators, insurers, chief information security officers (CISOs), risk managers, and others to find ways to expand the cybersecurity insurance market’s ability to address this emerging cyber risk area. More broadly, CISA has sought input from these same stakeholders on the market’s potential to encourage businesses to improve their cybersecurity in return for more coverage at more affordable rates. CISA is currently facilitating dialogue with CISOs, Chief Security Officers (CSOs), and insurers about how a cyber incident data repository could foster both the identification of emerging cybersecurity best practices across sectors and the development of new cybersecurity insurance policies that “reward” businesses for adopting and enforcing those best practices.

Source: Homeland Security, “Cyber Risk Management and Cybersecurity Insurance” http://www.dhs.gov/ website. Accessed January 9, 2020. http://www.dhs.gov/cybersecurity-insurance

© Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. This content is strictly for informational purposes and although experts have prepared it, the reader should not substitute this information for professional insurance advice. If you have any questions, please consult your insurance professional before acting on any information presented. Read more.