CyberCube launches cyber risk-model with backing of Symantec

There remains a relative dearth of cyber risk models for insurance and reinsurance markets to use, compared to the availability of risk modelling tools and analytics for other lines of business. So when a new company launches dedicated to cyber risk and with the backing of tech giant Symantec Corporation it’s worth a closer look.

CyberCube Analytics came out of stealth mode this week and announced the launch of its first product, a new cyber risk-modeling platform.

CyberCube is backed by investment from Silicon Valley based investor Trident Capital Cybersecurity, a $300 million venture fund focused on investing exclusively in cybersecurity companies.

“Cyber insurance is one of the fastest growing insurance lines to emerge in decades, expected to reach $20 billion in premium revenue by 2025,” commented J. Alberto Yépez, co-founder and managing director at Trident Capital Cybersecurity. “But the market is constrained by the lack of robust analytics to price cyber risk or understand systemic risk. We are creating the industry standard platform to address these challenges for cyber insurers.”

The company is also backed by technology developed by Symantec Corporation, which positions it with one of the world’s largest cybersecurity software houses as a key supporter.

CyberCube has also put together a team that includes experts from the insurance, risk modeling and cyber security worlds, to create what they are terming “the industry’s first risk modeling platform that provides an inside-out view of risk exposure to cyber insurers, reinsurers and reinsurance brokers.”

The CyberCube risk modelling platform can process terabytes of data and leverages multidisciplinary analytic methods, to provide cyber risk metrics.

Symantec has contributed some of its technology assets, which have been developed with the input of leading insurance and reinsurance underwriters, in return for an equity stake in CyberCube.

Symantec is also providing the use of a proprietary telemetry data license which will allow CyberCube to augment its cyber risk models.

“Symantec Ventures was created to be a catalyst for critical breakthroughs and innovation in the cyber security industry,” explained Symantec CEO, Greg Clark. “We are excited about CyberCube’s ability to address the needs of the cyber insurance market and believe that they are well positioned to realize the full potential of this large opportunity. We partnered with Trident Capital Cybersecurity to launch CyberCube because of their proven success in growing cyber security companies.”

That’s a significant partnership, as Symantec harvests telemetry data through its software security solutions which can provide unique insights into the latest security threats and attack vectors, from data collected across the many hundreds of millions (perhaps billions) of endpoints in its network and software reach, as well as from its network of advanced attack sensors which are deployed across its own network and those of partnered cloud network providers such as Amazon web services.

The wealth of data on emerging cyber risks that this reach could provide may make CyberCube’s risk model solution a particularly interesting one for cyber risk underwriters to investigate, insurance or reinsurance, as well as for ILS funds or investors looking closely at cyber risk opportunities.

The CyberCube risk modelling platform runs as software as a service (SAAS) and is suitable for any insurance or reinsurance underwriters looking to benefit from insights to help them make more informed decisions when underwriting cyber risk and managing cyber risk aggregation.

The platform’s enterprise intelligence layer offers users data on 7 million companies globally and includes modeling for over one thousand single points of technology failure, the company explained.

By combining unique datasets and advanced analytics CyberCube hopes to make cyber risk more understandable and as a result simpler to underwrite.

“Cyber is one of the most important risks facing society in the 21st century and therefore it is one of the most important risks facing the insurance industry,” said Pascal Millaire, CEO of CyberCube. “With the backing of Trident Capital Cybersecurity and Symantec Ventures, CyberCube is uniquely positioned to help insurers underwrite and model cyber risk in a way that no one else can.”

Cyber risk modelling technology is advancing fast and the underwriting of this line of business is gaining traction amongst re/insurers and a few ILS specialists.

RMS released the first probabilistic cyber risk model recently and other recent news such as the announcement from Hiscox Re & ILS that it is to offer a new cyber industry-loss warranty (ILW) product, suggest that opportunities to assume cyber risk in the ILS sector are set to increase, making the availability of robust cyber risk modelling tools ever more vital.

Also read:

– Cyber cat bonds will be a reality within two years: Jean-Louis Monnier, Swiss Re.

– Cyber Original Risk: How Do We Bring It to Market?

– ILS market’s cyber opportunity needs risk modelling support: AIR’s Heimann.

– Regulation and analytics can help cyber ILS market flourish.

– Capital markets a natural fit for cyber risks, as evidenced by WannaCry.

– Data leads cyber exposure, silent or catastrophic cyber risk is ILS’ future.