Topic
Cyber insurance
265 stories · tracked since Aug 28, 2024 · latest Nov 6, 2026
Cyber insurance is cover that pays a business for losses from hacking, ransomware, data breaches and system outages. It also funds the response, such as forensics, legal advice and notifying affected people.
What a cyber policy pays for and who is involved
A business buys a policy through a broker or directly, and an insurer or managing general agent underwrites it. Cover usually splits into first-party loss, such as incident response, data restoration, business interruption and extortion payments, and third-party liability, such as privacy claims and regulatory defence. Insurers share risk with reinsurers, who also set much of the market's appetite. Buyers meet terms such as retention, sublimit, waiting period and war exclusion.
Why it is hard to underwrite
Cyber losses do not behave like fire or flood. Attackers adapt, so past claims describe a threat that has already changed, and many insured firms rely on the same cloud providers and software, so one failure can hit thousands of policyholders at once. That accumulation risk is the central worry for carriers and reinsurers. Pricing therefore leans on security scans, questionnaires and claims data, and wordings keep being redrawn around exclusions and what counts as a covered event.
Where the activity sits today
The activity is split between specialist cyber underwriters and insurtechs, large global carriers and reinsurers, and brokers building their own programmes. Risk-intelligence and scanning tools sit beside the underwriters, helping them see what a client actually runs. Consolidation has appeared, with a reinsurer taking direct ownership of a cyber platform it had backed. Reinsurance demand is described as steady, and hiring moves between the specialists are frequent.
How artificial intelligence is changing the product
Recent activity has moved from selling basic cover to deciding how AI fits within it. Insurers are rewriting wordings to say whether AI-related losses are covered, and some now offer affirmative AI cover, including for deepfake fraud and intellectual property. Tools that detect AI use inside a client help underwriters judge exposure. Vendor and third-party failures, and the question of what falls between cyber and other policies, run through much of the discussion alongside data-centre risk.
Written by Insurtech Daily from the coverage below.
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Coverage
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InsureThink Why cyber claims will expand beyond ransomware
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US cyber pricing stabilising, but tech risks and privacy claims loom: Howden Re
Pricing for US cyber insurance is stabilising after dropping for several years; however, claims from the 2023 underwriting year are still developing, while vulnerabilities are being discovered and exploited faster…
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QBE and State Farm Ventures back Lazarus AI
Lazarus AI is developing AI tools for document processing, cybersecurity and legacy system modernization.
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InsureThink How should underwriters assess law firm ransomware risk?
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Trusting a Broker Facility
Rating agencies are sounding alarms over so-called broker facilities, whereby a global insurance broker bundles into a single risk portfolio a diverse mix of high-dollar corporate exposures like cyber liability…
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California Finalizes Long-Term Solvency Requirements for Insurers
California insurers will be required to assess how climate risks, artificial intelligence, cyber threats and other challenges could affect their financial strength over the coming decades. California Insurance…
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Binance’s $6.3 Billion Hack: How Crypto Insurance Works
Hackers stole $6.3 billion from Binance in the world’s biggest crypto heist, putting a spotlight on how cryptocurrency exchanges insure their digital assets against theft and cyberattacks. But insurance protection is…
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The cyber market has grown up. But staying in your lane still matters
Underwriting is better, coverage is broader, and clients who once ignored cyber now demand it. The question is whether insurers are overreaching in the wrong direction
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GlobalData: Insurers should spell out AI in SME cyber policies
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Wrongful Data Collection Driving Cyber Claim Frequency
A growing source of cyber insurance claims is wrongful data collection. Even though the cost of these claims individually is generally low, their rising frequency should be of concern to underwriters and policyholders.…
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PHP2Shell vulnerabilities raise systemic cyber insurance risk
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Hackers don’t need to steal data to cause a disaster: The coverage gap brokers need to know
Howden US experts warn cyber exclusions can leave other types of losses from breaches or hacks uninsured
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Contour Underwriting taps KYND for global cyber push
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Cyber Direct Premiums Are Up but Majority of Policies Are Endorsements: NAIC
The U.S. domestic cyber insurance market has nearly tripled in size since 2020, with endorsement policies accounting for the largest share of policy counts relative to premium. The observations come from a new report…
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AM Best warns PHP vulnerabilities could pose systemic risk for cyber insurers
AM Best, an international credit rating agency specialising in the insurance sector, has warned that security vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language could expose cyber insurers to widespread losses. In a recent…
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PHP Security Flaws Highlight Potential Systemic Risk Aggregation for Cyber Insurers
Recently discovered security flaws in PHP programming language, used by many websites globally, has highlighted the potential for cyber risk aggregation, which has long worried insurers and made them reluctant to…
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Cyber Direct Premiums Are Up but Majority of Policies Are Endorsements: NAIC
The U.S. domestic cyber insurance market has nearly tripled in size since 2020, with endorsement policies accounting for the largest share of policy counts relative to premium. The observations come from a new report…
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Ardonagh to bring global MGA businesses under Orvia brand
Orvia covers professional, financial, high-net-worth, marine, cyber, P&C and specialty lines.
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CFC extends AI coverage to healthcare and professional services
CFC previously made similar updates to its media, IP, financial services and cyber products.
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Delaware wants to let AI run entire companies: what it means for insurers
A new proposed Artificial Intelligence Company raises a multitude of questions for anyone underwriting D&O, cyber or E&O
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Sompo Japan selects CyberCube for cyber risk analytics
The tools will help Sompo Japan assess accounts, track shared exposures and estimate losses.
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PHP flaws put US cyber brokers on alert over shutdown coverage
Federal patching warnings raise questions about lost income from precautionary outages and insurers’ expectations when clients cannot update immediately
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EC-Council acquires Cyber Insurance Academy in AI education push
The deal adds AI risk and emerging tech to an accredited broker training program
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Cyber insurance market is 'very unhealthy'
Rate issues are taking their toll
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The Cost of Losing Your Cool: Tallying the Losses of a Supermarket Cyberattack
Insurance and Financial Implications of France‘s Supermarket Refrigeration Cyberattack Keeping things cool is generally a good idea in the supermarket business. When a cyberattack reportedly interferes with…
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SMEs rank cyber their top risk but misread the threats: CFC
Most small businesses don’t know cyber insurance covers human error or provides incident response, CFC finds
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NSA warns of critical website flaw as Wikipedia, European government websites taken offline
Emergency fixes are out for two bugs in crucial software that runs around 70% of the web. For cyber insurers, it’s the scenario they fear most: one flaw that could hit thousands of policyholders at once
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CyberCube and Blackpanda partner to bring cyber risk analytics to brokers across Asia
CyberCube, a provider of cyber risk analytics for the insurance industry, and Blackpanda, Asia’s leading cyber incident response company, have partnered to bring cyber risk analytics to brokers across Asia through…
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EC-Council Expands Technology Risk Capabilities Through Acquisition of Cyber Insurance Academy
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Insurtech Shory partners with UAE Cyber Security Council to strengthen cyber resilience
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AI Accelerates Cyber Threat Landscape, Poses New Risks for Insurers and Businesses
Industry executives speaking during a recent NetDiligence Cyber Risk Summit in Philadelphia said cyber losses are increasingly driven by operational disruptions, sophisticated fraud schemes, rather than traditional…
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Cyber claims shift as AI failures create new liability risks
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King Risk Partners adds two Florida professional liability specialists
King Risk Partners has acquired two Florida agencies specialising in professional liability and cyber insurance for professional services firms: Risk Avoidance Managers of St. Petersburg and Coastal Insurors of…
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UK commercial insurance rates fall for eleventh straight quarter
Marsh data shows UK property down 11% and cyber falling faster, but motor and financial lines carry caveats
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EC-Council Acquires Cyber Insurance Academy, Expands AI Risk Education
Cybersecurity training and certification organization EC-Council has acquired Cyber Insurance Academy, the credentialing body for the cyber and AI insurance industries. Financial terms of the transaction were not…
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AI Accelerates Cyber Threat Landscape, Poses New Risks for Insurers and Businesses
Industry executives speaking during a recent NetDiligence Cyber Risk Summit in Philadelphia said cyber losses are increasingly driven by operational disruptions, sophisticated fraud schemes, rather than traditional…
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AI Accelerates Cyber Threat Landscape, Poses New Risks for Insurers and Businesses
Industry executives speaking during a recent NetDiligence Cyber Risk Summit in Philadelphia said cyber losses are increasingly driven by operational disruptions, sophisticated fraud schemes, rather than traditional…
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Insurers Say French Supermarkets’ Cyber Insurance Unlikely to Cover Food Losses
French supermarkets are facing millions of euros in losses after a cyberattack forced them to throw away food, in a crisis that is not typically covered by cyber insurance policies but could still lead to higher…
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Google Cloud outage hits UK banks, retailers and public services simultaneously
The power failure at a London data centre this morning is the cloud concentration scenario cyber underwriters have been modelling for years - and it raises a coverage question brokers should be putting to clients now
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Cyber Rates Are Down, Risks Are Up but Small Businesses Slow to Adopt
The commercial cyber insurance market is strong and growing, but small to midsize businesses may be falling behind as cybercriminals ramp up AI efforts. “Cyber threats are evolving faster than many businesses can adapt…
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Travelers increases ceded percentage to cyber quota share reinsurance: CFO Frey
US primary insurer Travelers has expanded the amount of risk it cedes through its cyber quota share reinsurance treaty, a strategic move designed to manage risk exposure that will dampen top-line premium growth through…
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Coalition: AI hasn't increased cyber insurance claims yet
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Industry Panel Highlights Challenges in Selling Cyber Insurance to SMEs
Small- and mid-sized businesses hear and read the same news everyone else does. Awareness of cyber risk isn’t the problem. But after years of insurers market trying to crack this nut, these businesses aren’t buying the…
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Why captive insurance for cyber and trade credit is growing
Commercial gaps and coverage limits are pushing organisations into captive structures for both lines
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Brit extends cyber insurance distribution through Acturis Package
Brit Group Holdings Limited (Brit), an insurer offering specialist insurance products for businesses, has further expanded its digital distribution through the Acturis platform with the introduction of Brit Cyber on…
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Cyber Rates Are Down, Risks Are Up but Small Businesses Slow to Adopt
The commercial cyber insurance market is strong and growing, but small to midsize businesses may be falling behind as cybercriminals ramp up AI efforts. “Cyber threats are evolving faster than many businesses can adapt…
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G7 to war-game AI cyberattacks on banks as regulators sound systemic alarm
Finance ministers sign off on frontier AI "tabletop" drills, and the scenarios they plan to rehearse look a lot like the cyber catastrophes insurers have spent years modelling
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G7 to war-game AI cyberattacks on banks as regulators sound systemic alarm
Finance ministers sign off on frontier AI "tabletop" drills, and the scenarios they plan to rehearse look a lot like the cyber catastrophes insurers have spent years modeling
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AI-driven incidents will escalate in frequency once attackers find the right business model: Coalition
Cyber risk can hold flat for years, then jump sharply once attackers find a way to exploit a new technology; artificial intelligence (AI) appears to be heading down a similar path, cyber insurance specialist Coalition…
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350 French supermarket cyberattack exposes gaps in cyber insurance coverage
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Aviva adds CyberScout helpline for home insurance customers
CyberScout is part of TransUnion.
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Cyber Rates Are Down, Risks Are Up but Small Businesses Slow to Adopt
The commercial cyber insurance market is strong and growing, but small to midsize businesses may be falling behind as cybercriminals ramp up AI efforts. “Cyber threats are evolving faster than many businesses can adapt…
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SME cyber insurance uptake stalls everywhere except the US
Penetration sits near 10% in most markets while the US runs at triple that and awareness is not why
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Marsh leans into AI growth but warns of systemic cyber exposure: CEO Doyle
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) carries systemic threats that require coordinated industry oversight as its implementation moves to an immediate operational driver across the re/insurance market…
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Insurers: French Supermarkets’ Cyber Insurance Unlikely to Cover Food Losses
French supermarkets are facing millions of euros in losses after a cyberattack forced them to throw away food, in a crisis that is not typically covered by cyber insurance policies but could still lead to higher…
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French Supermarkets’ Cyber Insurance Unlikely to Cover Food Losses, Insurers Say
French supermarkets are facing millions of euros in losses after a cyberattack forced them to throw away food, in a crisis that is not typically covered by cyber insurance policies but could still lead to higher…
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US cybercrime losses hit $21bn as SMB coverage gap persists
FBI data shows a 26% rise in losses even as cyber insurance rates keep falling
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CyberCube partners with Blackpanda in Asia
CyberCube has separately licensed Blackpanda’s aggregated, anonymized incident data for regional research.
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Insurtech Igloo expands into Turkey with personal cyber insurance partnership
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AI tops AXA’s risk ranking, and clients want to know if their cyber policy covers it
Only 9% of experts who named AI a top risk say authorities are well prepared, while WTW says insureds are questioning cover for generative AI losses
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