ISO to collect cyber insurance data to help mitigate risk related to cyberattacks

ISO, a Verisk Analytics business, announced on Wednesday that it will collect, aggregate and analyze cyber insurance data to help address a major issue facing today’s cyber insurance market: the need for more detailed underwriting and rating information.

ISO said in a press release that it is currently collecting premium, exposure and loss data for cyber liability and first-party coverages written between 2010 and 2014 from insurers that choose to participate. After ISO aggregates and analyzes the data, it will be available to insurers that submitted data.

“Given the heightened awareness, concerns and increasing frequency of cybersecurity attacks, cyber data collection for the purposes of mitigating risk and pricing risk are critical,” said Joseph Izzo, senior vice president of data strategy and information management at ISO Solutions, in the release. “Data collection and its transformation into actionable information are a concern for many company executives and their insurers, as well as regulators and government agencies at the federal and state levels.”

Maroun Mourad, senior vice president of commercial lines, domestic and global at ISO Solutions, added that insurers know that data breaches can be costly for businesses, as they need to provide coverage not only to investigate the incident, notify affected parties, and restore lost data, but also for liability resulting from the unauthorized release of client information. “Having robust data is critical to the development of the cyber insurance market, which is why we’ll be reaching out directly to insurers to explain the benefits of providing their data and to help them with the electronic submission process,” Mourad said.

All insurers, regardless of whether they currently report data to ISO, may submit their data by Sept. 30, to qualify as a participant that will receive the aggregated information. Those insurers with questions about the special data call can e-mail CyberSpecialCallRequest@verisk.com or call Verisk customer support at 1-800-888-4476.