Soft market, harder risk: Cyber Focus 2026 now live

Welcome to Intelligent Insurer’s Cyber Report 2026.

Cyber insurance is entering an interesting phase. The market has more capacity, competition is strong and buyers have more choice, yet the risks insurers are being asked to understand and cover are becoming more complex.

Cyber Stars 2026: Read digital edition here  |  Cyber Channel here

That tension comes through clearly in our Cyber Insurance Survey 2026. Rising threats remain the biggest driver of demand, but their dominance has fallen since last year. At the same time, concerns around pricing adequacy have moved up the agenda, while new technology, mainly AI, is changing both the nature of attacks and the questions underwriters are asking.

There is also a broader shift taking place in what cyber insurance itself represents. Increasingly, the value of a policy is not measured only by whether it pays a claim. Prevention, preparation, incident response and recovery are becoming part of the proposition, particularly as cyber insurance reaches smaller businesses that may not have sophisticated security resources of their own.

This report explores those changes from several angles: where insurers see the next opportunities for growth, how underwriting priorities are evolving, the return of affirmative cyber war cover, the persistent protection gap in personal cyber, and what a softer market means for pricing and discipline.

We’re also delighted to introduce our Cyber Stars 2026, who share their own journeys into the sector and their views on where the market is heading, what is changing and where the opportunities lie.

I hope you enjoy the report.

Aditi Mathur
Editor, Intelligent Insurer

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