London insurer Howden has revealed it has launched a cyber insurance platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as the majority of this sector lacks this type of coverage.
SME’s have been historically undeserved by the cyber insurance market, according to Munich Re data shows only 14 per cent of SMEs have Cyber insurance cover in place.
This comes as total ransomware incidents across 2023 went up by 85 per cent, compared to the previous year. As stated by the NCC Group, so far activity in 2024 incidents are already up 30 per cent on the elevated 2023 levels.
On Tuesday it was revealed that Howden launched a platform for SME with revenues of up to $250m, where cyber insurance can be purchased in four steps directly through the platform.
The insurer stated that there will be no lengthy questionnaires or complex terminology used to get a quote.
Howden’s new cyber platform provides limit up to $6m (£4.7m) capacity, and client are pre-approved and eligible for an insurance proposal by providing their name, industry, annual revenues and website.
The platform will get supplementary data by gathering it via open APIs, meaning that underwriting standards are upheld despite the greatly simplified purchase process.
Commenting on the platform, Jean Bayon de la Tour, international head of cyber, Howden, said: “Cyber insurance is predominantly purchased by large corporates because they typically have the resources to navigate an advanced procurement process.”
While Shay Simkin, global head of cyber, Howden, said: “Howden has accessed the insurance market’s
pool of cyber expertise to close the protection gap by ensuring that SMEs can access advanced cyber
insurance solutions.