On Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. will announce a new multi-year commitment to help the insurance industry build superior, data-driven cyber insurance products backed by Microsoft security solutions.
Managing risk is a critical business objective for all companies. However, even with the adoption of the best cybersecurity technologies and best practices, companies can face residual risks due to inconsistent management of applications and other productivity platforms exploited by a rapidly evolving threat landscape.
To fill this gap, insurance providers have begun offering policies to help mitigate the impact of data breaches and ransomware attacks.
This new area of insurance is growing rapidly; however, uncertainty is common as insurers struggle to acquire and use the dynamic, real-time data needed to mitigate cyber risk, while threats increase as ransomware drives urgency.
Due to the widespread adoption of Microsoft solutions across companies of all sizes, Microsoft is working with insurers to address their customers’ cybersecurity needs and reduce insurers’ own risk of loss through greater data visibility and controls standardized. Insurance operators, agents, reinsurers and brokers are required to understand and assess cybersecurity threats for each of their policyholders.
With this complexity, insurers are seeking greater visibility into each company’s health and safety environment to better support new policies. To address the issue, Microsoft is partnering with leading insurance industry partners to deliver innovative data-driven cyber insurance products, enabling customers to securely share security posture information through platforms like Microsoft 365and security solutions from Microsoft.
All data and details about a Covered company’s technology environment will be owned and controlled entirely by that customer, but that customer may choose to share it securely with providers to receive benefits such as enhanced coverage and more competitive premiums. This model rewards customers with real savings by adopting cybersecurity best practices and gives insurers the information they need to proactively protect their customers from breaches.
Partnership with At-Bay
Microsoft will announce, on today’s date, a partnership under this initiative with At-Bay , an innovative cyber insurance company. Through its modern approach to risk management, At-Bay assesses the cyber risk of each company it secures and provides actionable insights into how customers can improve their security posture.
Also Read: How CIOs and CISOs Should Share Cybersecurity Responsibility
Encouraging the implementation of security controls with improved policy terms and pricing has strengthened the overall security of At-Bay’s portfolio companies. According to At-Bay, its policyholders are seven times less likely to experience a ransomware incident than the industry average.
As of October 1, businesses in the US using Microsoft 365 are eligible to save on their At-Bay cyber insurance policy premiums if they implement specific security controls and solutions, including multi-factor authentication and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Microsoft is also actively working in partnership with At-Bay to identify additional ways to improve its customers’ digital risk exposure and proactively address vulnerabilities. This offer will be available through the At-Bay broker community and available to customers using any version of Microsoft 365.
Interested companies can contact their insurance agent to get started. In addition to these security controls, the level of savings depends on the loss history and individual risk profile of each business.
“An insurance policy is an effective tool to articulate the impact of cybersecurity choices on a company’s financial risk. way to reduce risk,” said Rotem Iram , co-founder and CEO of At-Bay. “Working with Microsoft allows us to educate customers about the powerful security controls that exist in Microsoft 365 and reward them for adopting those controls.”
“For cyber insurance to play a significant role in overall risk management, buyers and sellers need the benefit of data and clear visibility of what’s covered and the factors that minimize or multiply risk exposure,” added Ann Johnson , deputy – Corporate President of Security, Compliance and Identity ( SCI) of Microsoft Business Development.
“Microsoft’s partnership with At-Bay brings important clarity and decision-making support to the marketplace as organizations everywhere seek a comprehensive way to empower hybrid workforces with stronger, centralized visibility and control on cloud applications, increasing security and productivity.”
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