Cyber attacks drive insurance purchases in early 2015

As more and more high-profile cyber attacks are identified, businesses are increasing their investment in cyber insurance to help mitigate their risk exposure in the event their data is hacked. According to U.S.-based insurance broker Marsh in its latest report, Benchmarking Trends: Cyber Attacks Drive Insurance Purchases for New and Existing Buyers, client spending on standalone cyber insurance increased 32% for the first half of 2015. Pricing for cyber insurance also increased – especially for industries that have experienced significant cyber losses. 

Across specific business lines, spending grew significantly. (See Figure 1) Power and utility companies increased their growth rate 100%, nearly doubling their take-up rates for the same period in 2014. Universities and other education-based institutions saw a growth rate of 155% – a 90% change in their cyber insurance take-up rates over the previous year. Marsh notes that “school settings are ripe for cyber attacks due to the hefty amount of student and staff personnel information that is stored in a variety of places.”