Cyber insurance guide
What affects cyber insurance cost
Cyber insurance is priced account by account. These are the factors that move a quote.
Pricing factors
- Revenue and size: larger businesses have more systems, data, and income at risk
- Industry: health care, financial services, education, and professional services hold sensitive data
- Records held: the volume and type of personal information drive notification exposure
- Security controls: MFA, EDR, backups, and patching
- Limits and retention: higher limits cost more; higher retentions cost less
- Coverage options: social engineering, dependent business interruption, and system failure add cost
- Claims and incident history
- Contract requirements that dictate limits or specific coverages
Market conditions
Cyber pricing moves with claims trends. When ransomware claims rose, insurers tightened controls requirements and raised rates; pricing has varied since. A broker can compare terms, not just price.
Comparing quotes
Compare limits and sublimits, retentions, waiting periods, panel vendor requirements, war and infrastructure exclusions, and whether defense is inside the limit. Two quotes with the same headline limit can differ widely.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't you list prices?
Cyber pricing depends on underwriting of each business's revenue, industry, data, and controls, so published averages would not reflect your quote.
Does a higher retention lower cost?
Generally, a higher retention (deductible) lowers premium, but you pay more of each claim.
Can better security lower my premium?
Strong controls can improve eligibility and terms, and weak controls can lead to exclusions, higher retentions, or declinations.
More coverage and guides
- First-party cyber coverage
- Third-party cyber liability
- Ransomware and cyber extortion coverage
- Social engineering and funds transfer fraud
- Cyber business interruption
- Regulatory defense and PCI coverage
- Data breach notification laws by state
- Security controls cyber insurers look for
- Cyber insurance application checklist
- What affects cyber insurance cost
- Building a cyber incident response plan
Last updated October 15, 2026 · How we research