Don’t let Congress punt on cyber insurance reform

Sixty million school children’s personal information exposed. Thousands of flights canceled. A venerated retailer brought to its knees. Dire warnings from public officials about urgent threats to our national security.

This isn’t speculative fiction. These are all real incidents that have happened in the last year. The stakes in cyberspace are high and growing, especially as the LLM boom means society is increasingly reliant on software. Yet, repeated incidents show we are not doing enough to protect ourselves from cybercriminals or adversary nation-states. Unfortunately, Congress appears poised to leave a key tool on the shelf that could raise our cyber defenses: insurance.

In other areas of risk, insurance has a proven track record of both reducing the likelihood of incidents and helping with recovery when they do occur. Consider homeowners’ insurance: If you act recklessly—maybe by deep frying your Thanksgiving turkey indoors—your insurer may deny your claim, which incentivizes you to avoid risky behavior. Insurers also lower your premium if you make safety and security investments, like installing smoke detectors. And if a fire still breaks out, your insurance helps you recover quickly by covering the cost of repairs and even paying for a hotel room while your house is fixed.

Read more at CyberScoop