US cyber industry loss index expanded to cover unintentional events

The US cyber insurance industry loss index launched in 2023 by PERILS AG and CyberAcuView has now been expanded to also include reporting on unintentional, or accidental, cyber insurance industry loss events.

The industry loss index that covers primary cyber insurance market loss events in the United States was launched in September 2023 by data aggregator PERILS alongside industry-backed cyber data firm CyberAcuView.

Already it has been used in both cyber catastrophe bond and cyber industry-loss warranty (ILW) deals, but now its usefulness is being expanded as well.

From October 1st 2024, the index will also be calculated for unintentional, or accidental, cyber insurance industry loss events.

The index currently reports on US primary cyber market losses resulting from intentional systemic cyber events which generate an industry loss exceeding USD 500 million.

Industry feedback has now driven the companies behind the cyber industry loss index to expand the scope to unintentional systemic cyber events.

The methodology is unchanged, simply extended to cover the scope of unintentional cyber loss events as well.

Darryl Pidcock, Head of Cyber of PERILS, commented, “Since launch twelve months ago, we have invested considerable time in actively engaging with industry stakeholders, with the index already being used for both ILW and ILS transactions and with new transactions in the pipeline. That engagement is not only critical to increasing its use but also expanding its scope. Our decision to widen the remit of the index to unintentional cyber incidents was a direct result of our continuous market dialogue.”

Mark Camillo, Chief Executive of CyberAcuView, added, “We believe this will further support the industry’s ongoing need for more cyber data to facilitate improvements in modelling and ensure the long-term availability of cyber market capacity. We feel the addition of unintentional loss reporting can play an important role in enabling the expansion of the cyber-ILS and ILW markets.”