Why More Enterprises Are Seeing Value in Cyber Insurance

Venkatraman and Banerjee of Deloitte on the Need for Having Cyber Insurance Brian Pereira (creed_digital) • November 6, 2023

Debashish Banerjee, partner and insurance leader, Deloitte South Asia, and Anand Venkatraman, partner with risk advisory, Deloitte India

Investments in digital infrastructure from both the public and the private sector have accelerated digital transformation in India. However, digitization also introduces cyber risks that can impede business growth. The focus on cyber insurance has increased with the increasing sophistication of cybercrimes and the rising costs of managing data breaches.

According to their risk management strategy, organizations may choose to tackle cyber risks in-house or outsource them to insurance companies, as a risk transference strategy.

A recent report by Deloitte presented an optimistic forecast for cyber insurance in India. According to the report, the Indian cyber insurance market, valued at $50 - $60 million, is expected to continue growing in the next three to five years, driven by the increasing awareness about the need for cyber insurance.

"In India, mindsets are expected to change [toward cyber insurance]," said Debashish Banerjee, partner and insurance leader for Deloitte South Asia, "45% of the respondents were neutral, but from those who were not neutral, 15% of them felt that cyber insurance is very costly, and 30% felt that there is a value in cyber insurance."

While investments in digital infrastructure are increasing; investments in cyber insurance need to increase as well, said Anand Venkatraman, partner with risk advisory, Deloitte India.

"We need to move from a compliance- to a risk-based approach. Once that transformation happens, organizations will look at risk-based strategies - risk mitigation, risk avoidance or risk transference - and that's where cyber insurance comes into play." he said.

In this video interview with ISMG, Venkatraman and Banerjee also discussed:

The changing attitude toward cyber insurance;
Strategies to evaluate risk posture;
The impact of India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023 on cyber insurance.

Venkatraman has more than 21 years of experience in information security and risk management. His expertise lies in secure IAM, cybersecurity and protection, IT governance, and architecture design and implementation of enterprise-wide security solutions.

Banerjee has extensive experience in insurance analytics, actuarial, risk management and data science. He has held senior leadership roles in companies such as GE, Novartis and Deloitte.