Cyber-insurance: Interest high but uptake low
Many UK firms not yet ready to approach the market due to incomplete understanding of the risk, Marsh study finds
Uptake of cyber-insurance remains low in the UK, with only 11 per cent of those polled in a recent study by Marsh indicating that their organisation already has a policy in place.
The insurance broker quizzed risk managers and CFOs from more than 100 large and mid-sized UK firms in its UK 2015 Cyber Risk Survey Report.
Interest in cyber-insurance is clearly high, with only 47.2 per cent of respondents saying their organisation has no plans to purchase a policy.
But of the remainder, just 11.1 said their organisation has bought cyber-insurance. A further 2.8 per cent said their employer is in the process of applying for cyber-insurance while 38.9 per cent said they are planning on seeking quotations.
Marsh suggested uptake would be higher if more firms had carried out the financial assessment required to approach the insurance market and place a value on transferring the risk. Some 68.1 per cent of those polled said they had yet to identify one or more cyber scenarios that could most affect their organisations.
"Our experience and earlier findings in this survey suggest that the remainder are not yet ready to approach the market as they have an incomplete understanding of the risk, as opposed to them making a conscious decision not to purchase insurance following a value-based judgment," Marsh said.
It claimed that standard cyber-insurance policies can cover both breaches of customer information and business interruption, potential issues that were found to be among the greatest concerns of those polled.
Resellers questioned the logic of using cyber-insurance in a recent CRN video roundtable and Marsh said respondents to its survey were aware it is no panacea.
"The findings... suggest that companies recognise that cyber-insurance is not a holistic solution in dealing with cyber-exposure and that, in fact, it covers only certain specific events and outcomes," it said.