The Obama Administration has announced that its agencies have suggested that the insurance industry should be engaged when developing the standards, procedures, and other measures that will comprise the Cybersecurity Framework that it expects to release in February 2014 and the Voluntary Program that will be created thereafter to help encourage critical infrastructure companies to adopt the Framework.

The goal of the collaboration with the industry would be “to build underwriting practices that promote the adoption of cyber risk-reducing measures and risk-based pricing and foster a competitive cyber insurance market.”

According to the administration, the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology is taking steps to engage the insurance industry in further discussion on the Cybersecurity Framework. This process “should continue as the Framework is developed and the Voluntary Program is created.”