Cyber Insurance Blog

What to Look For in a Cyber Insurance Policy Form

What to Look For in a Cyber Insurance Policy Form

 Insurance broker in business suit holds smartphone, overlaid with graphic illustrating cyber security in cloud computing.

If you’ve never discussed securing a Cyber Insurance policy form with your business clients, it’s well past time you do. Last year, the average cost of a data breach hit an all-time high—$4.24 million.

Cyber Insurance covers the costs of recovering from a cyber attack. It also covers costs of legal claims resulting from the incident.

But not all Cyber Insurance policy forms are created equal.

Different policies reflect carriers’ different appetites for risk. Even forms that at first glance appear identical likely have small but significant differences. Cyber Insurance isn’t one-size-fits-all.

At ProWriters, we help brokers find and obtain the most effective policies for their clients, as efficiently as possible.

Looking at Sample Cyber Insurance Policy Features

Here are some Cyber insurance policy form specimens from industry-leading carriers for your consideration.

At-Bay

At-Bay’s easy-to-read form reflects their underwriting flexibility, including the ability to manuscript endorsements for particular risks. Note, for instance, the War & Cyber Terrorism Enhancement.

At-Bay enjoys a reputation for competitive pricing and rapid turnaround. In addition to financial coverage, it offers active risk monitoring (ARM) “to continuously watch over insured businesses and help them stay secure year-round.”

 

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Axis

Businessman sits at desk, eyes closed, rubbing his forehead, as his folding laptop screen displays a “System Hacked” alert.

Axis offers Cyber Insurance policy forms for large and global businesses doing more than $2 billion in annual revenue. They have extensive experience handling Cyber claims, a consistent appetite for risk—so insureds aren’t likely to find themselves suddenly undesirable—and a streamlined, accessible platform.

Axis has admitted and non-admitted capabilities. Brokers can place their clients’ insurance with this carrier even in states where Axis hasn’t met the state’s department of insurance (DOI) regulations.

CFC Underwriting

Handling some 2,000 Cyber claims in the last year, CFC is another carrier with extensive experience. It has admitted and non-admitted capabilities.

Reviewing CFC’s Cyber Insurance policy sample, you’ll note it features broad wording favoring your client. For example, it covers expenses for broadly defined professional services necessary to determine income loss and to defend against claims.

CFC also offers breach response outside the limit on surplus lines, and such tools as deep scanning and dark web monitoring to help policyholders mitigate risk in real time.

Coalition

 Insurance broker points to laptop screen, explaining a Cyber Insurance policy form to client, photo overlaid with padlock graphics.

Coalition claims credit for creating “the world’s first [Cyber] insurance designed to prevent risk before it strikes.” It uses active vulnerability scanning to prepare personalized risk profiles for policyholders.

Coalition’s dashboard puts policy and claims resources at insureds’ fingertips. Among covered first-party losses the policy’s language specifies is cyber extortion, an increasingly severe threat.

Coalition has extensive breach response experience and competitive pricing.

Corvus

The experienced Cyber underwriters at Corvus offer an interactive policyholder dashboard, an action center policyholders can use to increase their cyber security posture, and rapid response when incidents occur.

One strength of Corvus’ sample Cyber insurance policy is its attention to Business Interruption (BI) caused by “total, or partial, or intermittent interruption or degradation” of either the insured’s computer system (first-party BI) or that of an outsourced service provider (contingent or third-party BI). Corvus uses benchmarking data to estimate BI loss.

Cowbell

Insurance broker sits at desk discussing a Cyber Insurance policy form with a business client via laptop computer video conference. Known for creative, AI-powered underwriting solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises, Cowbell offers standalone Cyber policies for businesses with revenue of up to $100 million and complete portfolios of admitted or surplus coverages for those with revenue as high as $250 million. It also offers flexible excess capabilities and an unaggregated limit option for those needing more protection.

Pre-claim assistance is one way Cowbell delivers rapid, personalized service to policyholders.

Tokio Marine

With a wide risk appetite and broad range of creative underwriting solutions, Tokio Marine offers not only coverage but also assistance from Cyber experts. Its team provides Cyber awareness training and, for qualifying insureds, Tabletop Testing, so companies know what to expect during an incident and how to protect themselves.

Note this policy example’s wording about paying on the insured’s behalf in cases of Cyber extortion. As extortion incidents rise, brokers and clients must clearly understand any carrier’s requirements and exclusions regarding such payments.

Travelers

Travelers Insurance has a record of longevity in the Cyber marketplace and an extremely wide appetite for risk. Its Cyber policies are fully admitted products, meaning they conform to all states’ DOI regulations.

In this Cyber insurance policy example, note how the reimbursement and ransomware “pay on behalf” language is built specific to each customer’s situation. This approach is desirable. As a responsible broker, you should look for carriers that don’t expect your clients to accept a “cookie cutter” policy form.

Grow Your Cyber Book of Business With Help From ProWriters

Carefully review any Cyber Insurance policy form from a carrier you’re considering for your clients. Compare each one’s provisions, definitions, requirements, and exclusions with others.

ProWriters makes it easier for you to complete your due diligence and present your findings to clients. Our registered brokers have advanced tools to make researching and quoting Cyber policy options from leading carriers easier than ever.

We also offer resources you can use to educate your clients about their need for Cyber Insurance.

For example, our eBook, How to Sell Cyber: Big Claims in Ransomware & Social Engineering, explains what risks businesses face, what compliance and non-compliance with regulations looks like, and how you can present both packaged and stand-alone Cyber policies to them. Download your free copy today.

If you’re already looking for quotes, download our submission form and email it to [email protected].

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