Gallagher Re picks BitSight to unlock cyber-modelling insights

Global reinsurance broker  Gallagher Re has partnered with cyber security ratings company  BitSight to help clients improve the way they measure and manage cyber risks.

Gallagher Re will integrate BitSight cybersecurity data with its reinsurance insights and analytics to provide clients with a holistic view of security performance and supply chain aggregation within their portfolios.

The aim is to give its reinsurance clients a "comprehensive and differentiated understanding of cyber risk compared with existing modelling approaches on the market".

The cyber insurance industry has evolved massively over the last 12 months deploying rate changes, coverage restrictions, and more robust underwriting practices, having faced significantly higher claims associated with ransomware attacks.

With advancement in underwriting, reinsurers are exploring how technologies that provide an ‘attacker’s perspective’ can deepen understanding of risk.

Recent cyber events and market changes have increasingly shown that harnessing cyber data offers potential benefits in risk selection and subsequent loss ratio, Gallagher said.

“We believe data has a key role to play in cyber’s next growth phase, by unlocking improvements across underwriting, portfolio optimisation and catastrophe modelling,” said Ed Pocock, senior cyber consultant at Gallagher Re.

“Combining sophisticated data from BitSight with our differentiated approach to analytical modelling will help us deliver the insights that enable our clients to secure their competitive edge as cyber continues to grow.”

Stephanie Snyder Frenier (pictured), vice president and general manager, insurance, at BitSight, added: “BitSight is yet again proving to be a critical part of the insurance marketplace, arming reinsurers with the cybersecurity performance data they need to make more informed decisions. This partnership indicates BitSight’s continued momentum in helping the global marketplace improve its understanding and management of cyber risk.”