Note from The Council 04/15/16

In a recent PropertyCasualty360 article, Timothy Zeilman, vice president of Hartford Steam Boiler, a subsidiary of Munich Re, stresses the need for the insurance industry to underwrite cyber policies focused on middle-market companies, which are attractive targets for cybercriminals. Middle-market organizations’ networks, for example, are often left unprotected as executives fail to put enough emphasis on cybersecurity or lack the resources that larger organizations have to build and maintain cyber defenses. Mid-size companies can also be seen as a “potential backdoor to access the networks of larger clients.” While mid-size organizations store large amounts of personal information and business data, they often do not have the resources to be able to afford the most comprehensive, expensive cyber policies, or they underestimate the extent of their risk.  As Zeilman explains, “medium sized companies, meanwhile, are squeezed between expensive cyber policies designed for big organizations and low-cost insurance packaged for small businesses.” As such, many middle-market organizations settle for policies that are more affordable, but provide inadequate coverage. Zeilman cautions that there is a gap in the market for a very important segment of customers and encourages insurers and brokers to fill that gap.