CGI supports Aon with cyber insurance risk assessment
Professional services firms Aon and CGI have decided to join forces in Finland. The partnership centres around the development and delivery of cyber insurance risk assessment services.
Cybercrime is rapidly becoming one of the largest criminal domains, estimated to cost the globe more than $110 billion per year. To help organisations mitigate the impact of cybercrime, private sector companies – such as Aon – offer them the possibility to insure their business and intellectual capital against digital crime(s). Cyber insurance typically also covers loss or damage in the case of industrial espionage, which happens when an outsider gains unauthorised access to confidential business plans or research results.
“In today's business environment, there are significant risks that threaten companies' information systems and the operations that depend on them. These can be protected by taking out a separate cyber insurance policy,” says Jukka Jaakkola, insurance expert at Aon. "Cyber insurance is becoming increasingly common because today's digital world involves new types of threats that are not covered by traditional insurance.”
To determine the prices and deductibles of cyber insurances, providers rely on complex risk assessment, scenario and forecast models. The accuracy of models is key – if not accurate, it can either price the insurance product out of the market or, in the case macro-pricing is far off the actual damage cybercrime events, have large financial consequences for the insurer. To boost the accuracy of the risk assessment phase, Aon has signed a partnership with CGI. The IT consulting firm will perform a technical cyber security analysis for each client, which Aon will subsequently use to evaluate the client’s business risks for insurance planning and tendering purposes. On the basis of this analysis, the client may decide to reduce its risks - and thus its insurance premiums - before the insurance tendering process, by bridging its security gaps or improving control.
It is unknown if the cyber insurance partnership will be extended to other European markets.
