The insurance industry has found itself in a new role on the front lines of national security.
At present, the insurance industry has the ability, through Cyber insurance, to play a more vital role in daily US national security than it ever has.
Though seemingly simple, concerted efforts such as increasing client risk management education, improving and broadening loss prevention requirements, and implementing more stringent underwriting methods are incredibly important.
By continuing to focus on and expand these efforts, our industry can help to keep America's companies, municipalities, and families safe from foreign states and state backed actors seeking to destabilize our way of life. It is an added bonus that we can also do this while building out what has historically been a profitable line of business.
America's enemies are wise enough to avoid kinetic war with us, but they are intelligent enough to wage cyber warfare against our nation. The insurance industry should recognize itself as part of the national security apparatus, in a role that will be even more expansive than the one it has played in realm of terrorism through TRIA.
Insurance is no longer only an important backstop against a large losses. It is now playing a lead role in keeping our nation secure and prosperous, and we in the industry should relish this position and treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
The time for Carriers to seek to increase Cyber market share at the expense of sound Underwriting standard and robust loss prevention efforts has passed. Recent loss ratios across the Cyber market tell us this is the case.
Loss ratios aside, the national security benefits of improving underwriting standards and broadening loss prevention requirements, with the resultant improvement in client education this will provide, are enormous. These benefits far outweigh the negative potential for lost business from clients who choose to go without coverage rather than accept these new barriers required for it to be obtained.
As the world has increasingly shifted from the physical and toward the digital, the insurance industry has found itself in a prime position to go from a relatively quiet segment of the broader world of finance to one that can play as large a role in keeping our nation secure as banks have historically done. Let's hope we all accept this responsibility with the seriousness that the new role requires.
*republishing allowed w/ author's prior express approval
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