Ontario, Canada (CU)_ Small and medium-sized enterprises in Canada now have a new option for cybersecurity guidance. DataStream Insurance, a cyber insurance brokerage based in California, has commenced registering with consultants, managed service providers, and value-added resellers here to refer their customers to as they expand their wings in the north.
According to chief executive officer Andy Anderson, the firm, which represents over thirty insurance companies, has recently signed six Ontario-based partners and is actively seeking more. During an interview, he said, “Partners bring us into the conversation to help their clients understand how cyber insurance fits into an overall cyber risk program. We believe a good cybersecurity strategy includes technology, compliance, and insurance.” He added, “Our comprehensive suite of tools — including our Cyber Insurance Readiness Assessment and Partner Risk Reports— will help Canadian MSPs and SMBs assess and remediate their risks in a new and profound way.”
However, he warned that nowadays, insurers are mostly asking customers to have mature cybersecurity plans or they would be denied coverage or be required to pay high rates. According to Anderson, “There’s no absolutes. We work with 30 different carriers and they have different requirements for different industries and organizations of different sizes — and a customer’s loss history will be scrutinized.” However, he stated that among the most important security technologies that insurance applicants should implement are multi-factor authentication for logins, especially for email and remote access, off-site or cloud data backup, and endpoint detection and response.
The most recent proof of the huge increase in premiums is a report from the Pew Charitable Trust tracking trends in the United States that was released last week. According to Anderson, applications for coverage might be up to 10 pages long, which is why IT partners are an excellent sales channel for cyber insurance. The partners offer cyber security evaluations, data analysis of cyber risk in monetary terms, cyber security training, and assistance with completing the application outlining the applicant’s IT infrastructure. He said, “What we do is help highlight areas where they [organizations] may not be meeting those requirements yet, flag that for the client and then work with the IT team at the managed service provider to make sure that customer has undertaken the requirements around the time of coverage.”
