This piece makes the case for cyber insurance as part of a sensible risk strategy — cover for the costs of an incident, from recovery and legal fees to business interruption. But there’s an important catch worth understanding.
Why it matters
Insurers now expect real security controls before they’ll offer cover, and before they’ll pay out: MFA, backups, patching, endpoint protection and often Cyber Essentials. Poor security can mean higher premiums, exclusions or a declined claim.
So insurance and good security go hand in hand — the work you do to get covered is the same work that reduces your risk of needing to claim. We help clients meet insurer requirements and evidence the controls, which often lowers premiums too.
Insurance is not a substitute for security
Cyber insurance is a sensible way to cover the residual costs of an incident — recovery, legal fees, notification and business interruption — but it is not a replacement for good security, and the market has made that explicit. Insurers now treat the application form as a security audit, asking pointed questions about multi-factor authentication, backups, patching, endpoint protection and often Cyber Essentials. Weak answers mean higher premiums, coverage exclusions, or a claim declined at the worst possible moment.
Getting cover that actually pays out
The work you do to become insurable is the same work that reduces your chance of ever claiming, which is why the two go hand in hand. Implement and — just as importantly — document the controls insurers expect, keep evidence current, and make sure your recovery capability matches the times you have promised. Remember that policies cover misfortune, not negligence, so lapses in the basics can void a claim. We help clients meet insurer requirements and evidence their controls cleanly, which frequently lowers premiums as well as risk.
Think of insurance as the safety net beneath good security — never as a reason to install less of it.
Source: ITPro, 3 April 2026.