Cyber Insurance Premiums Decline While Policy Exclusions Expand to Social Engineering Attacks
What Happened — Cyber insurers are lowering premium rates across the board, but many new policies are adding or widening exclusions for social‑engineering attacks such as click‑fraud and business‑email‑compromise. The shift reflects a market correction after a surge in claim payouts and a reassessment of risk models.
Why It Matters for TPRM —
- Lower premiums may tempt organizations to reduce spend on cyber coverage, yet broader exclusions can leave critical gaps in third‑party risk protection.
- Vendors that rely on insurance for incident response funding may find themselves uncovered for social‑engineering incidents, increasing financial exposure.
Who Is Affected — Financial services insurers, large enterprises with cyber insurance programs, and their third‑party vendors (especially MSPs and SaaS providers).
Recommended Actions — Review current cyber insurance contracts for exclusion language, negotiate coverage for social‑engineering attacks, and align internal risk assessments with any uncovered vectors.
Technical Notes — No specific vulnerability or exploit is disclosed; the change is driven by market dynamics and claim trends. The emerging exclusion focus is on social‑engineering vectors (phishing, credential‑theft). Source: Dark Reading