Cyber insurance has received a lot of attention lately and I would like to share some information about what exactly cyber insurance is, a little about the history of the industry, as well as how it may be important to your business.  I am going to break this information into a few blog posts for ease of readability.

Cyber insurance policies have been available since the 1980s; however, coverage was provided only to banks and large companies.  As the 1990s rolled around cyber coverage was more common but industry wide only a few policy holders made claims.  When the Y2K scare approached insurance carriers began to see how interconnected our lives and businesses are and how we had grown dependent on computer technology.  At that time insurance companies began excluding most cyber risks from their general policies.

When a person or business purchases an insurance policy he or she is transferring the type of risk listed on the policy to the insurance company in exchange for payment of the policy premium.  The purchase of insurance is only one method of risk management.  In the case of cyber insurance all insurance companies require that companies purchasing the insurance avoid and reduce their cyber risks with a properly implemented and maintained IT security plan.  Insurance companies want companies to do their part to manage the risks and make sure they are not easy targets.

Will continue soon…..