Those of you who remember the 1975 film, Jaws, likely remember the line from one of its trailers: “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.” Along similar lines, just when you thought it was safe to imagine the cyber insurance market was coming under control, there was this from SecurityWeek — “Lloyd’s of London Introduces New War Exclusion Insurance Clauses” — which says this, in part:

The rising cost of cyber insurance payouts … “In particular, the ability of hostile actors to easily disseminate an attack … means that losses have the potential to greatly exceed what the insurance market is able to absorb.” The new exclusion will come into effect from March 2023 at the inception of new or renewal of existing cyber insurance policies.

Ouch!

Hostile actors, of course, refers to people who spend the majority of their time trying to take things that don’t belong to them by taking advantage of the world of digital technology. And insurance companies, of course, could offset their cyber liability insurance losses by raising their premiums. But that would only result in fewer people having cyber liability coverage and more people looking askance at the insurance industry. That won’t work for anyone.

The Preemptive Shot

What will work for everyone is to make sure the companies seeking cyber liability insurance policies have adequate cybersecurity protection. The advantages to those companies are that fewer of their digital assets will be at risk, and they won’t have to pay exorbitant premiums to insure those assets. The advantages to the insurers that want to write cyber liability insurance coverage are that they won’t have to face rising payouts, and they won’t have to raise their premiums to offset those payouts.

In fact, according to the Society of Actuaries:

Policies must contain austere per-occurrence deductibles and rigorous demands on insureds’ cybersecurity protection. This will keep premiums affordable while encouraging insureds to mitigate their risks.

The moral of the story is that, while there will always be hostile actors, they need not win. With the proper cybersecurity protections in place — and with reasonably priced cyber liability insurance in place — you need not be afraid to go back in the proverbial water.

We’re here to help.