Hack Day: Cyber today, cyber tomorrow

What future threats should brokers be aware of and how can they prepare? Our webinar explores the issues.

The final live panel session of the Insurance Age Hack – “Cyber Today, Cyber Tomorrow” day looked to the future of cyber insurance.

Richard Hodson, director at the UK Global Group, said there was already more interest among clients. “There is certainly a lot more interest when we go out to meetings” which gives his brokers a much better platform on which to build a conversation with clients.

Aviva’s Danielle Meldrum, head of product development, commercial lines, said this growth of awareness was definitely noticeable.

“This is partially because there are more reports, mainly of large corporates but also of the sort of attacks that are happening to smaller firms – phishing and impersonation for example”.

This was not a cause for complacency: “There is absolutely a long way to go with the education and awareness piece”, she said. The market was rising to the challenge, however: “There is no excuse now for not being able to access the right product for your business”.

Ian Bird, director, solutions architects Europe, Middle East & Africa for Cyence agreed that awareness among SMES was rising: “Although there are still gaps in the information, it is starting to flow more freely within businesses. Almost everyone now has some understanding of the term cyber”.

For the future building the right partnerships would be essential, said Bird.

“Insurers are good at processing claims and paying losses. That is their bread and butter. It is what insurance does. People need to be told not to panic and given simple, effective advice on how to deal with the immediate problem. That is where choosing the right partners becomes important”.

Hodson said clients, especially those with outsourced IT arrangements, should be able to look for support there: “Ask your IT supplier if they have the right response team in place”.

For Meldrum the need to be able to access advice beyond the just IT and technical support was also important: “We should be helping with the PR element – getting them back on track in the hearts and minds of their customers”.