SAN FRANCISCO — Since there’s no way to completely eliminate security risks, a panel of industry players here at the RSA Conference said insuring against cyber attack or network downtime is the course that a growing number of companies are taking. ”Cyber insurance will become as ubiquitous as automobile insurance,” said Erin Kenneally with the […]
SAN FRANCISCO — Since there’s no way to completely eliminate security
risks, a panel of industry players here at the RSA Conference said
insuring against cyber attack or network downtime is the course that a
growing number of companies are taking.
”Cyber insurance will become as ubiquitous as automobile insurance,”
said Erin Kenneally with the San Diego Supercomputer Center. ”There’s no
such thing as complete security. It just doesn’t exist… With automobile
insurance and cyber insurance, both mitigate loss and damage.”
Digital losses generally are not covered under most corporate insurance
policies, and that leaves companies open to suffering great financial
damages with no safety net in place.
”If people filed a claim on their property insurance for an automobile
accident, it would be denied,” said Mark Silvestri with CNA Insurance.
”The same situation exists in the cyber world… There is coverage
against employee theft, property and valuable paper, but cyber loss is
not covered under those policies because it’s not tangible. We needed
something that filled in the gaps.”
David Navetta with AIG Insurance says cyber insurance policies range from
Information Asset Coverage to Electronic Theft and Cyber Extortion
coverage.
But Navetta quickly pointed out to the conference audience that insurance
is not a substitution for having strong, layered security in place.
”Insurance is not intended to replace technology,” says Navetta. ”We
are trying to weed out the companies that don’t have the security in
place that they need… If you don’t have security, you’re not getting
insurance.”
Navetta said he wasn’t in a position to say exactly what types of
security technologies companies need to have, but did say that insurance
agents put potential clients through a thorough interview, checking for
policies and policy enforcement, along with an overall attitude toward
security.
”At this point in the industry, we’re getting a lot of submissions,”
notes Navetta. ”We’re trying to get the good risks right off the bat,
and as the industry grows, we’ll try to get some others.”
He adds that as an increasing number of insurance companies get into the
cyber arena, insurers will be forced to accept companies with more risk,
and also will have to lower their prices.
Silvestri says they have been seeing a ‘noticeable uptick’ in cyber
insurance business, and he expects that trend to only pick up.
”Now they realize hacking events aren’t just nuisances,” says
Silvestri. ”Now they’re worried about serious economic loss. And that
will drive them to buy coverage.”
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
December 16, 2020
AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
December 11, 2020
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Sharon Gaudin is a veteran technology journalist who has worked for the likes of Computerworld, InformationWeek, and Datamation. She has covered everything from the cloud, security, and social networking to software development, robotics, artificial intelligence, and hardware.
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
