Information ‘asymmetry’ in cyber underwriting

NEW YORK—Cyber underwriting has come a long way from the early years.

“Back in 1999 and 2000 an account came in and you sent it off to a service provider, they did a report and you went to your X, Y grid of retentions and limits and came up with a price per million; that’s how you would underwrite,” said Bob Parisi, managing director at Marsh
Parisi, the moderator of the Underwriting Process Laid Bare panel at Advisen’s Cyber Risk Insights Conference in New York, continued, “Since then the process has matured and become more detailed.”

But according to a panel of experts, many challenges remain. One of the challenges discussed was what the underwriters on the panel referred to as an “asymmetry” of knowledge which can create an incomplete picture of the risk.

For example, when referring to large accounts, Richard DePiero, head of cyber & technology at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, said cyber applications leave a lot to be desired.

“The submission gives us a good idea of what their practices are, what information frameworks they run and are practicing, and allows us to ask questions and focus on topics that we really see driving losses,” DePiero explained.

But there is a lot of information that can be difficult to obtain.