Some members of the California State Assembly seem to believe there is no better Valentine’s Day gift than the promise of cyber insurance. Assemblyman Edwin Chau (D-Monterey Park) introduced Assembly Bill 2320 on Feb. 14, which would require any business that contracts with the state and has access to people’s personal information to maintain cyber insurance coverage. Federal lawmakers should pay attention to what happens with the bill.
A seemingly minor requirement like this could prove a gift that keeps on giving for American taxpayers. Through risk assessments and requirements for baseline cyber practices, acquiring cyber insurance encourages robust cyber security and a higher degree of corporate resilience — saving us money and headaches.
The most direct operational need for cyber insurance stems from the fact that cyberattacks are both common and hugely expensive to address. A U.S. government IT contractor recently came under fire for exposing emails and credentials stemming from its access to the systems of three federal agencies. And in the infamous 2015 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack, cybercriminals leveraged credentials that had been issued to…
