As a new entrant in the UK market, Cowbell, a provider of cyber insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), recognises that there is an “underserved market in the UK”, with the company having identified a way to serve this market with “expertise and tailored coverage options”, says Simon Hughes, General Manager, Cowbell UK.
During a recent interview with Reinsurance News, Hughes explained how SMEs are finding it hard to obtain cyber insurance at the moment, highlighting how it can be due to a number of different factors, such as competitive terms, a competitive product, or simply an insurance provider willing to engage with them.
He said: “After deepening our understanding of the UK market – through our risk pool, which analyses the cyber security risks of more than 5 million UK SMES, and hiring top talent from UK insurers – we built a customised product, Prime One, and simplified quoting platform.
“We launched the platform in September, offering brokers the ability to quote, issue and bind within five minutes on our proprietary platform, and will build on this industry-leading tech with more broker tools, benefits and insurance products throughout 2024.”
Hughes also stated that Cowbell differentiates itself from other organisations, by using its expertise to educate and onboard clients who may be just starting on their cyber security journeys.
“SMEs are especially at risk of devastating attacks from cyber criminals, but we’re committed to helping our policyholders avoid becoming easy targets by improving their cyber security. Our Cowbell Factors allow us to assess and condense thousands of data points into simple-to-understand scores which inform our AI-driven underwriting process. It also serves as useful data points for our broker partners and policyholders to better understand their own cyber security posture in comparison to their direct peers.
“The more our policyholders know about their own cyber security the better, the more we can help them improve their security, and the less likely they are to suffer a cyber event in the first place. It’s not good enough simply to offer risk transfer alone; cyber insurance providers need to be offering an adaptive solution to their clients that fits their needs, aiming to prevent claims from happening in the first place and most importantly serving as a driver of improvement and education in overall cyber risk management and cyber security posture.”
Adding more to this, Hughes also explained how Cowbell is committed to expanding the idea of what cyber insurance looks like and how it protects businesses.
He said: “Cyber insurance now is much more than simply reactive insurance, SMEs should think of cyber insurance as immediate access to the experts when they suffer a cyber event, immediate access to incident response and event containment and a product that is working for them to improve their security posture.”
In March 2023, Cowbell entered into a partnership with Sophos, an innovator of advanced cybersecurity solutions. According to Hughes, the partnership highlights how cyber insurance providers can effectively partner with security and software providers for the benefit of policyholders.
“Cyber insurance can’t be seen as the solution to gaps in cyber security, it is important that security providers and insurance work together to make sure SMEs are effectively protected. Expanding with Sophos means that we are recognising the investments that our clients are making in their own cyber security, and rewarding clients based on their elevated security posture,” Hughes said.
Further, Hughes also addresses how Cowbell’s use of technology and data impacts how the company finds ways to offer cyber insurance for it’s clients.
“Our cyber risk assessment is available to all, not just Cowbell policyholders, and helps businesses understand their personal cyber risk and how it compares to their industry’s standard. Additionally, our Cowbell Insights offer concrete action items on how a business can improve one’s cyber risk and address vulnerabilities.
“Having these offerings available to the public allows businesses not only to become more cyber resilient, but also more insurable.”
