While ransomware attacks may have taken the headlines over recent months thanks to global events WannaCry and Petya, an expert has said that a good broker looks at cyber risk from a more holistic view.
As the threat of ransomware does increase, other avenues of cyber risk also open up whether they occur from human error or a malicious employee. Karen Kukoda, a strategic alliance director at cyber security firm FireEye, said brokers need to look at the entire risk landscape.
“People are afraid of ransomware and things like that but they don’t understand what would happen if their IP was found on a Chinese server somewhere,” Kukoda told Insurance Business. “How do you translate that to a dollar amount? I think really good cyber brokers can help you quantify the aspects of those risks. They will also take the time to describe the differences in policies that fit your business needs, which underwriters provide the best policy for retail or healthcare, etc.”
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Kukoda noted that brokers also need to understand the current coverage the client enjoys before they delve into policy options linked to cyber as other policies can cover aspects of the risk.
The recent WannaCry and Petya attacks have helped raise awareness around cyber risk and insurance but Kukoda said more still needs to be done to help protect clients. For organisations looking to improve their own cyber security and transfer risk through insurance, Kukoda said that traditional business silos need to be removed.
“We have got to combine the teams,” Kukoda continued. “Risk management is clearly going to be involved but so is IT, and so should the board of executives because all of these people have different aspects of this risk and different concerns that have to be managed and then obviously transferred.”
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