What’s a “smarter” cyber approach?
Danny Wood 00:00:06 Hello and welcome to Insurance Business TV. I’m Danny Wood, News Editor of Insurance Business Australia. Today we looking at how one of the Top Cyber Insurers in our 2024 5-Star Cyber awards approaches the challenges in this sector. The 5-Star Cyber award ranks Australia’s best cyber insurers based on interviews by our research team with brokers. The underwriting agency Emergence Insurance is among the leaders. We’re joined by Katrina Hickson, the firm’s Head of Distribution, and also Cris White, Head of Advisory for Cyber Suite, a firm that works with Emergence providing their cyber related advisory and legal services. Well, congratulations and welcome to you both, Katrina, let’s start with you. Your firm refers to a smarter cyber approach. In a nutshell. What is that exactly?
Katrina Hickson 00:00:54 Yeah, really, it’s around three key pillars, so smarter cyber coverage, which ensures that our clients have the most comprehensive protection available. Second is the smarter cyber services. So that’s that ongoing support, such as risk assessments and cyber security training to help prevent incidents. And then finally, the smarter incident response, so it’s the expert assistance in managing and mitigating the effects of cyber attack. And I guess we’re just finding now we can actually offer more than just financial protection, and it’s around giving the client the facility to be equipped to handle and recover from cyber effects effectively.
Danny Wood 00:01:36 And your firm emergence released a policy upgrade this year. Why an upgrade? And what did it consist of exactly?
Katrina Hickson 00:01:44 Yeah, well, really, we’re continuing to to look, to strive, to stay ahead of the evolving cyber threats. And as you can appreciate it, it’s constantly changing and constantly evolving. And I guess the introduction of the CEP double oh five reflects that, that commitment, the enhancements included broader coverage for emerging cyber threat, increased limits on certain types of cyber incidences, and then as well as introducing new services through cyber suite to support our clients in the event of a cyber event and even prior to an event occurring. And I guess it’s really just to ensure that our clients are better protected and supported and giving them more peace of mind for an increasingly complex environment.
Danny Wood 00:02:24 In terms of the cyber market, generally speaking, over the last couple of years, it’s regarded to have stabilized despite ongoing big attacks. I mean, how do you see the cyber market currently evolving?
Katrina Hickson 00:02:37 Yeah, look, it’s definitely a challenging one and one where robust defenses really do need to be in place. And I guess we’re seeing more of an emphasis on on supporting our small business clients and our mid tier clients in building out their risk management and incident response processes. And I guess that’s really just making sure that they’ve got the defenses around them whilst the the threats are evolving.
Danny Wood 00:03:01 Cris, you’re sitting there patiently. Let’s bring you into the conversation. You’re a cyber advisory service. But what is that exactly, and how does it sit alongside the insurance?
Cris White 00:03:13 Yeah, thanks. Danny, Cybersuit, we’re a holistic cybersecurity advisory service, looking to help businesses of all sizes more to understand their cyber risk as well as to manage it. And this can range from things such as implementing Cyber Incident Response Plans, managing their cyber awareness training, facilitating ransomware tabletop exercises, or just sitting with the business later and talking through some of the technical requirements of implementing some of the basic controls that a business needs to protect themselves, such as multi factor authentication, patching of vulnerable software, or having effective backups. When it comes to why is it necessary for us to consider our services alongside insurance. It really comes down to building the appropriate foundations of a risk managed approach that businesses need to take, and insurance just forms part of that risk managed approach and cyber suites, building the services to address all of the other aspects that a business needs to effectively manage those cyber risks so you don’t need you can basically see them as two sides of the same coin. It’s not an either or aspect you need to be considering both.
Danny Wood 00:04:41 Cris, can you just talk a little more about, I mean, how you’ve helped policy holders exactly?
Cris White 00:04:47 Yeah, good question. So with the new Emergence CP five policy that came out earlier this year, we’re offering complimentary services to all of these policy holders, and these. Services include one hour consult with the cyber expert, cyber incident response plan, real time threat notifications and vulnerability monitoring, as well as dark web monitoring. So an example of how we’ve helped several murders policyholders is especially during the one hour consultation, where we will sit down with the business leader and talk through what their cyber risks really are and how they’re able to implement effective controls, and this is helped lead businesses down the right path. Instead of just listening to buzzwords, they’re actually understanding what their risk is, and that may be them leaving that one hour consult with a business continuity plan template they’ve got to they’ve started down the path of incident response planning. They’re starting to implement key controls with some guides that we can give them straight away, as well as giving them a one month free trial of cyber awareness training.
Danny Wood 00:06:03 And Katrina, what sort of feedback have you had from emergence policy holders on Cris’s offering?
Katrina Hickson 00:06:09 Yeah, it’s been overwhelmed overwhelmingly positive that clients are really, I think, appreciating that comprehensive nature of of the support alongside the risk mitigation of a of a cyber insurance policy. And I really think having access to those advisory services, it’s really helping to strengthen their cyber security posture and and giving them everything that they need to be well protected and well prepared.
Danny Wood 00:06:35 And Cris, back to you for a final question, when we’re talking about this smarter cyber approach, how do you get brokers on board with it, and what would you like them to understand about it?
Cris White 00:06:45 I’ve really enjoyed working with brokers, especially not being from a insurance background, and it’s making the cyber, the smarter cyber approach, apply to the brokers as well. They’re not alone when it comes to talking to clients about cyber and they shouldn’t feel overwhelmed about having complex cyber discussions with those business leaders. I want to empower the brokers to bring cyber suite into that conversation, so that the business leader is being in the expertise of their business. Cyber suites bring the cyber security expertise and the brokers bringing their insurance expertise, and together, we’re able to help the business effectively manage their cyber risks.
Danny Wood 00:07:34 Um, Cris, thanks for spending some time with Insurance Business TV.
Cris White 00:07:38 Thank you.
Danny Wood 00:07:39 And Cris White is Head of Advisory for Cyber Suite. We are also joined there by Katrina Hickson, who’s Head of Distribution for Emergence. And Emergence is one of the top cyber insurers in our 2024, 5-Star Cyber awards. Thanks for watching Insurance Business TV. Bye for now.
