Authors: Ed Pocock James Poynter Peter Dyson
Cyber insurers have long used firmographic data, such as revenue, industry and country, as well as external security indicators to support underwriting and risk selection. These factors remain important, but they don't fully describe the scale, complexity or nature of an organisation's external digital presence. As externally observable data becomes more widely used in cyber underwriting, an important question is whether a better understanding of a company's digital footprint can help insurers assess the likelihood of future claims.
This paper examines whether digital footprint data can improve cyber claim frequency prediction. Using KYND's external technographic observations, Gallagher Re assesses how measures of digital footprint compare with and complement traditional underwriting factors such as industry, revenue and country.
Key findings
- Looking at the size and nature of a company's digital footprint provides a complementary lens for cyber insurers, helping differentiate organisations that may look similar through traditional firmographic data alone.
- KYND's external technographic observations of an organisation's digital footprint showed explanatory value in this study.
- Footprint-based features, including ISP (Internet Service Provider) diversity and related indicators of external digital complexity, provided additive insight beyond revenue, industry and country.
