DeNexus aims to give cyber risk confidence to reinsurers & ILS investors

DeNexus, a specialist provider of software for cyber risk quantification tools and software, has updated its main cyber risk modelling platform, saying that it aims to give greater confidence to both reinsurance and insurance-linked securities (ILS) markets when it comes to understanding cyber risks.

DeNexus takes a different approach to cyber risk modelling, calling itself “a provider of second-generation cyber risk modeling for industrial organizations, global (re)insurers and investors in insurance-linked securities (ILS).”

What it means by “second-generation” is that it extracts data directly from an industrial organisation’s internal tech infrastructure, which it believes can serve to increase the accuracy in determining the financial impacts of a cyber event.

DeNexus today launched Version 5.3 of its DeRISK Platform, an evidence-based, data-driven cyber risk quantification and management tool.

DeRISK aims to “help the risk transfer community better understand, mitigate and transfer the risks associated with cyber breaches,” the company explained.

By enabling greater accuracy in understanding the financial impacts of cyber loss events, DeNexus believes it can help insurers, reinsurers and ILS investors to “commit appropriate risk capacity and develop better solutions to cover cyber risk,” importantly here this is expected to be with more confidence as the sophistication of cyber modelling tools like DeRISK advances.

“Insurers, reinsurers and ILS investors need to have confidence in cyber data in the underwriting process, in order to create new cyber offerings with confidence,” explained Jose M. Seara, Chief Executive Officer of DeNexus.

“The updates to the DeRISK platform were driven by the dynamic nature of cyber risks and give the risk transfer community the ability to better quantify and manage cyber risk exposures on a continuous basis.”

DeNexus has adopted an approach to cyber risk modelling that it says is “a response to the risk transfer sector’s need for clear visibility of cyber exposure, but also a view of that exposure as it evolves over time.”

“DeNexus is the first ‘second-generation’ cyber modeller,” Seara added. “First generation cyber modelers took a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to cyber risk. However, decisions on whether or not to set aside capital for a potential loss need credible data and bespoke models for a specific industry vertical that only second-generation cyber risk modelling can provide.

“The DeRISK platform focuses on industrial clients and provides the technology to understand the real risks associated with cyber breaches.”

Updates to the DeRISK platform with this new release include: an enhanced portfolio builder allowing risk aggregations to be better assessed; a new project simulation tool for cyber risk mitigation projects; new reporting capabilities to better communicate risk indicators; improved performance through better algorithms; and the inclusion of more critical evidence-based data on cyber risk.