DataStream Blog

Protecting against cyber-attacks can feel unsatisfyingly intangible. It is not always clear how much risk protection you are buying with security interventions. And it is not always clear how your insurance is being priced, and how that relates to your investment in security. The purpose of this post is to interrogate the insurance market and seek to gain some clarity into how pricing operates.

The number of cyberattacks against businesses of all sizes is growing daily. Attacks with data encrypting ransomware can cripple a business by making it unable to service internal and external users. Malicious phishing campaigns attempt to compromise login credentials to enable unauthorized access to sensitive data resources. Maintaining the security of a company’s information technology (IT) environment has never been more important.

The cyber insurance market has faced challenges in recent years. Increased ransomware attacks have driven higher loss ratios. Russia’s attack on Ukraine has raised concerns about catastrophic global cyber events. With news that the U.S. government might create a government-backed national cyber insurance program, some people wonder whether private cyber insurance will become obsolete. The IT and cyber security community has questions about the future viability of the cyber insurance market.

The complexities of technologies in the early days of computing are nothing compared with what MSPs contend with today. The speeds and feeds of the recent past have evolved into conversations about processes and regulations and addressing challenges and opportunities with real business solutions. While running cable and repairing PCs are still vital functions, clients expect much more from their IT services partners today. That increasing reliance creates several key advantages for MSPs – from added revenue opportunities to greater customer satisfaction – as well as a few big drawbacks.

The cost of protecting data has never been higher. What many experts fail to say is that the financial liabilities associated with poorly secured systems are on the rise as cybercriminals target both MSPs and their clients. Estimating the cost of downtime and remediation support and the reputational damage from these attacks can be difficult for any business. For MSPs, those incidents are even more concerning as the experts in all things cybersecurity – a poor response can undermine their credibility in the business community.