Cyber insurance market boosted by government support

The Government has joined forces with 12 insurance firms in order to develop a growing market for cyber insurance.

Along with the relevant insurance firms, the government issued a statement confirming the plans. Officials outlined the  collaboration’s intent to point out certain realities when it comes to cyber-related threats to businesses, as well as their plans to develop cyber insurance. The Government said that a number of new working teams will be formed that will report on any important issues in the market. The Cabinet Office will receive these reports in April, 2015.

The announcement was made soon after 12 leading UK insurance firms met with Francis Maude, the cabinet office minster, along with officials from GCHQ, Innovation and Skills, Department for Business, and UK Trade and Investment, to assess how the teamwork can be developed further.

Arbor Networks’ solutions architect director, Darren Anstee, said that cyber insurance is seeing a growth in demand due to experiences of an actual cyber breach, contractual requirements, and media coverage. He added:

“However, businesses should not rely on insurance as a way [of] mitigating their risk of attack. Organisations can no longer afford to make mistakes when it comes to security, and need to implement multi-layered defences and the appropriate operational processes to protect the business from the attacks that are out there today.”

As Anstee suggested, businesses need to be doing what they can to combat cyber attacks, and the best way that they can do that is to review their IT security recruitment policies. This way, then can ensure that they have the necessary skills in house to prevent and deal with any possible attacks, insurance or no insurance.