Cyber Insurance Market Boosting Cyber Security

The insurance industry sits squarely at the intersection of cyber risk management and market solutions. Because the threat is so broad and the world we live in is so interconnected, one common thread throughout the discussions was the need to scale cybersecurity services and the sharing of threat intelligence across all industries.
 

However just hours after Anthem, the second-largest US health insurer, announced it had suffered a massive security breach, the largest Lloyd’s of London insurer said cyber attacks are now too big for private insurance companies to handle. 
Insurance companies have previously pointed out that traditional risks, such as natural catastrophes, are more contained than cyberthreats. Earthquakes in Japan do not cause hurricanes in Florida, the FT noted, but a vulnerability in widely-used software or Internet architecture — both of which are turning up more and more frequently in cyberattacks — can bring down systems globally. That could leave insurers faced with simultaneous multibillion-dollar claims.
While that’s not a completely unfamiliar scenario for both insurance companies and insured businesses — it’s exactly what the Y2K “millennium bug” threatened — the Y2K risk was specific, technically well understood, and had a firm deadline of Dec. 31, 1999. Security vulnerabilities in widely used software are typically unknown until a breach occurs, and attackers frequently hit a few targets at a time, leaving many companies unaware that they too are at risk. In the case of Anthem, for example, the breach came after a series of attacks on smaller health insurance companies.
Some insurers offer cyberattack policies to help companies meet the costs of forensic investigations and lawsuits if they are attacked. But those policies come with high premiums and serious coverage restrictions.
The insurance industry sits squarely at the intersection of cyber risk management and market solutions, and because we have a unique view into the rapidly evolving set of cyber risk.  The insurance industry is well-positioned to drive improved public-private partnerships and should support access to threat information for organizations so they can better protect themselves.  So, as the various stakeholders focus on scaling cyber security measures, it will be important too for the cyber insurance marketplace to continue to scale insurance market solutions and risk management services across the all industries and segments. 
http://blog.willis.com/2015/02/cyber-insurance-market-has-key-role-to-play-in-boosting-cyber-security/

http://www.pymnts.com/news/2015/we-cant-cover-cyberattacks-says-lloyds-of-london-insurer/#.VO8RkEullHh