Cyber insurance premium prices show no signs of dropping any time soon. The uncertainty is influencing renewals across all industries. Don’t be caught unprepared for these challenges. Whether you’re placing cyber insurance for the first time or headed into a renewal, groundwork is essential to meeting underwriters’ rigorous demands. The following are best practice strategies to prepare for the cyber insurance placement process.

Establish a Team

With the amount of information your organization will be required to provide, do not leave the application and process to just one individual. Create a team comprised of various experts within your organization, including employees with proficiency in human resources, legal, information security and other departments relevant to cybersecurity.

Begin Collecting Information Early

You will be required to provide specific information regarding your current enterprise information security practices and protections, including:

• Compliance — Is yourorganization prepared and ready for privacy regulations? Provide detailedinformation of your organization’s readiness for compliance with any applicableindustry and privacy regulations.
• Protection — Does your organization have the right security against ransomware attacks? We recommend implementing professional penetration testing to evaluate your company’s current protection capabilities and any weaknesses with your security. Make sure multifactor authentication (MFA) is enforced for all remote connections and email access.
• Response Plans — Does yourorganization have a breach response plan? This includes backup measures,options for business continuity and incident response measures. Make sure topatch your software as advised by the software vendor. Include your plans forrestoration and recovery procedures to return to operations quickly.
• Vendor Awareness — Is yourorganization aware of the security controls and procedures of any third-partyvendors with access to critical data orinformation? Make sure these organizations have similar plans and a securityemphasis to guard your company and customers’ private information from hackers.Closely monitor that each vendor is only given the permissions they need andmake sure they provide proof of indemnification that is supported by anadequate cyber policy of their own. 

Analyze Policies & Procedures

Honestly assess whether your organization’s current cybersecurity practices are effective at preventing a cyberattack. Will this information prove favorable to underwriters? Determine if there are policies or procedures you’re missing and how you can implement them within your operations.

Concentrate on Weaknesses

Following penetration testing, you’re likely to discover areas of your security that need improvement. Staying ahead of cyberattackers is a constant battle. Providing underwriters with your proactive actions to solve cyber weakness will show your initiative to protect data. If you’ve suffered a breach, you may be asked to detail the preventive steps you’ve implemented to mitigate future breaches from occurring.

Boast Your Accomplishments

Let underwriters know what steps you’ve taken to keep your data safe. This will include policies, procedures, training and other proactive cyber responses. Mention any ransomware threat-related procedures you have in place, including multifactor authentication (MFA), vendor management, employee email security training and other network protections.

We’re Here to Help with Cyber Insurance

You don’t have to face the uncertainty of the cybersecurity insurance market alone. Our cyber insurance experts can help you prepare your application and provide risk guidance to help protect your organization. For more risk management guidance, connect with a member of our team.