According to this report, the evolution of cyber insurance is in some ways similar to the insurance industry’s response to the dangers of steam boilers as they became more common.
“From The History of Hartford Steam Boiler: ‘Most dismissed these incidents as ‘acts of God.’ People who ran industrial concerns simply assumed that their boilers would explode and they would lose one or two other workers.” The future founders of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company ‘had other ideas.’
They looked for a scientific reason behind the explosions. They developed a new boiler design, the Hartford Loop, that addressed the problem. With periodic inspections and services to the boiler, they could reduce or stop boilers from exploding. To scale safety and loss prevention, they incentivized inspections with insurance offerings.”
For cyber insurance to be viable—and perhaps ubiquitous—some things are going to have to change. It’s also clear, given how various-size organizations pursue their cybersecurity, there is no one size fits all.
Source: Council Post: Making Cyber Risk Insurable: Disrupting The Cyber Insurance Industry In 2023