Cyber insurance purchases among Marsh's US clients doubled from 19% to 38% over the 5-year period 2014 - 2018 according to Marsh's new report: "More Cyber Insurance Buyers as Awareness Grows." Education and Health Care organizations topped the list of buyers in 2018, which the report logically links to PII- (personally identifiable information) and PHI (protected health information)-intensive industries.
The growth in stand-alone cyber policies is attributed mainly to the increasing exclusion of coverage for cyber-related losses in other types of policies, and the occurrence of significant, high-profile cyber events and associated implications, which have increased overall awareness of the risks.
Average cyber policy limits also increased in 2018 - by 11% (from $18.8 million in 2017 to $20.9 million in 2018) for all companies, and by more than 25% (from $49.7 million in 2017 to $62.4 million in 2018) for companies in excess of $1 billion in annual revenue.
See also Marsh's release; "Big Companies Thought Insurance Covered a Cyberattack. They May Be Wrong" from The New York Times; these recent reports: "Using Effective Cyber Products to Secure Better Insurance Coverage" and "Cyber Insurance Trends"; and additional Insurance & other relevant resources on our Cybersecurity page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!