If your organization is considering purchasing cybersecurity insurance, congratulations on taking an important step toward securing your future growth. Many businesses today think that implementing security strategies is enough, but what they don’t know is that they’ll inevitably get hit with a breach and have no financial fallback plan. That’s where insurance saves the day.
But given the soaring sophistication of cyberattacks in recent years, the cybersecurity insurance market has also exploded—making coverage that much more expensive. Plans are becoming more complex by the year as well as both security assessors have more to consider and cybercrime prevails.
Your business will need to consider several factors when choosing cybersecurity insurance providers. To start, this job should primarily fall to the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), according to Microsoft. CISOs are the only ones who have the know-how to estimate risk, know what technical requirements should be met, and manage recovery processes. (Although you’ll see why they shouldn’t do it completely alone below.) Read on to learn what to ask before you start the process.
5 Questions to Ask When Considering Cybersecurity Insurance
Note: Point Alliance is not an insurance agent, however we follow the advice from security powerhouses like Microsoft and have studied their published resources on best practices before choosing cybersecurity insurance.
How Much Should I Share About My Organization?
Experts say to aim for the Goldilocks zone of information sharing. Insurance providers do need to know things like if a security breach occurred and what the state of your company’s security system is, but they don’t need to know the nitty gritty details or be exposed to the underlying infrastructure of your organization. Under-sharing could cause you to end up with insufficient coverage, and over-sharing could invite undue scrutiny.
How Much Should the Rest of the Organization Be Involved?
One of the pitfalls for a CISO is going it alone. CISOs should involve other leaders and stakeholders when looking at cybersecurity insurance providers. You should present pros and cons of different plans so the company can choose together. If the insurance coverage isn’t right or you financially suffer after a breach, you as the CISO could be blamed if you made the decision by yourself.
How Do I Ensure the Right Things Are Covered?
Depending on the size of your organization, you might not be able to cover everything. If you can, great, if not, you’ll have to prioritize higher-risk systems with your insurance provider. This is where the expertise of the CISO shines. You’ll be able to lead decisions on what systems are the most valuable, most at risk, and subsequently guaranteed they are insured for multiple types of breaches. To learn more about the basics of what a cybersecurity insurance policy should cover, read this blog.
How Many Bids Should I Get?
While every business is different—thus the number of bids you should get varies—just make sure you get at least more than one. It can be tempting to go with the first policy you explore, but getting more than one bid will help you see what might be missing from the first and enable you to maximize your budget.
How Often Should I Evaluate My Coverage?
Once you’ve gone with a policy, you should reevaluate your own security posture as well as the threat environment every time your policy comes up for renewal. The world of cybercrime changes by the day—it’s not realistic your policy in 2023 should cost the same as in 2025. By then, you may be aware of different threat vectors or have shored up your security in significant ways.
Sift Through the Options with Point Alliance
While we are not an insurance provider, we are deeply experienced in helping organizations understand their risk factors and evaluate security approaches that are best for them. We would be glad to answer any questions you may have and help you strengthen your security posture. Get in touch with us today.
