John Hewitt Jones
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighted the rising cost of cyber insurance in a new report assessing challenges faced by the private market in mitigating cyberattacks.
In its study published Thursday, the agency said that according to industry sources, rates have surged. It also cited a recent insurance broker survey, which found that premiums for more than half of clients rose by 20% to 30% in late 2020.
“After holding relatively steady in 2017 and 2018, cyber insurance premiums increased markedly in 2020,” the agency said in its report. “Higher prices for cyber insurance have coincided with increased demand for the product and higher insurer losses from increasingly frequent and severe cyberattacks (particularly ransomware attacks that block users from accessing systems or data until a ransom is paid).”
GAO has studied the private cyber insurance market in response to new requirements included in the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2021.
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