Coterie Insurance, a managing general agent (MGA) focused on simplifying small business insurance, announced its entry into the cyber insurance market. This move comes through a new partnership with Berkley Re Solutions and TransUnion.
The firm will offer coverage from Berkley Re and cyber insurance services from TransUnion via its platform.
According to Bobbie Collies, Coterie Insurance’s chief insurance officer, agents and brokers have been asking for more coverage options due to the growing risk small businesses face, particularly from cybercriminals.
Coterie will utilize TransUnion’s Cyberscout solution to enhance its cyber risk services. These services include claims management, incident response, and forensics to assess the severity of cybersecurity incidents.
The solution also supports crisis management efforts, helping to mitigate damage, communicate with stakeholders, and protect the business’s reputation.
Cyber-related losses continue to grow, according to Cyber Security Global Trends. For instance, CyberCube, an analytics firm, estimated that insured losses from the CrowdStrike outages earlier this year could be as high as $1.5 bn.
Improvements in cyber security and business continuity are helping to combat encryption-based ransomware attacks, yet the cyber threat landscape is continually evolving. 2023 has seen a worrying resurgence in ransomware and extortion claims, resulting in an uptick in costly incidents, demonstrating that although progress is being made, the threat posed by ransomware shows little sign of abating, according to Allianz report.
Allianz analysis of a number of large insurance cyber losses shows that the proportion of cases in which data is exfiltrated is increasing every year – from 40% of cases in 2019 to around 77% of cases in 2022, with 2023 on course to surpass last year’s total.
Hackers are increasingly targeting IT and physical supply chains, launching mass cyber-attacks and finding new ways to extort money from companies, large and small.
Most ransomware attacks now involve the theft of personal or sensitive commercial data for the purpose of extortion, adding further cost and complexity, as well as the increased potential for reputational damage and third-party liability.