Specialty Podcast: What's In Store For Cyber in 2023?

Intro (00:00):
You're listening to the Alliant Specialty Podcast, dedicated to insurance and risk management solutions and trends shaping the market today.

David Finz (00:09):
Well, hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Alliant Specialty Podcast. I'm your host, David Finz, and with me today in the studio we have three very special guests, Jay Stampfl, Brendan Hall, and CJ Dietzman. They're the newest members of our newly formed Alliant Cyber Practice. Jay, welcome to the program, and let me begin by asking you, what does this mean for clients? What is the vision for Alliant Cyber in 2023?

Jay Stampfl (00:38):
Thanks, David. Really happy to be here with you and thanks for the question here. So, what's in store for 2023? We're going to be looking to bring in all the different components of cyber and we're going to continue to grow and invest in our cyber consulting and advisory capabilities. But most importantly, it's really about bringing all of these different components together to help our clients manage their overall cyber risk.

David Finz (01:04):
No, that's great and I mean, clearly, Alliant has made a major investment in talent in this area over the past year, you know, and we're thrilled to have the three of you on board. So, let's turn this over to Brendan for a moment. What's the takeaway here for our clients? Why should they be excited about what Alliant Cyber is bringing to the table?

Brendan Hall (01:24):
Thanks, David. Yeah, I mean, in the last couple of years, as we all know, the cyber insurance market has become very difficult for our clients. It's time-consuming. They're filling out application after application and all the while seeing their coverage recede while they're paying more for it. So, they're paying more for less. Nobody, I don't care who you ask, nobody likes doing that. And so, what we are trying to do here, is really bring a technology-enabled service to our clients that's going to improve outcomes for their insurability. So, whether they're getting cyber insurance for the first time, or they're renewing, we're on a constant conversation track with them and getting them prepared and put into the best, what I like to call ransomware shape, or cybersecurity shape, as possible so when we present them to the markets, they're presenting as well as they possibly can and enabling them to do that year over year.

So, it's not as though they have to start from scratch every year by having to fill out those same forms again. It's a constant conversation. We're doing updating as we go along. So that way, when that comes around for that renewal or that first time you're coming, that you are just kind of clicking a few buttons and just making the process easier with the end goal being, better terms, more coverage. And hopefully, as we are starting to see, some of the premiums coming down a little bit. And we don't see this as a zero-sum game either, where our clients are winning at the detriment of the underwriters, we think this is going to be better for the underwriting community as well because we're going to hopefully be presenting them with a higher volume of higher quality risk. If we're able to translate, a company that has a really strong cybersecurity program, but they happen to be in a sector that's sort of like out of favor. Now, if we're able to say, no, actually this is a good risk for you. This is going to be worth your while because these guys have XYZ controls in place. They've had this long of a track record without having any incidents, Etc., that's going to be benefiting the underwriters as well. So that's our hope. Our clients benefiting as well as the underwriting community that we're going to partner with.

David Finz (03:14):
That's great. I mean, you know, one of the frustrations that I've personally observed with clients is that they may be a good risk, but the question is, do the underwriters have the information they need to be able to differentiate them as a risk? Sometimes underwriters tend to paint with a broad brush. The difficulty is that our clients want to be seen as having made the investments in improving their security controls, and they want to be recognized and rewarded for those efforts. So, you know, having this team on board here is going to be a welcome addition for our clients. So, CJ, let me turn this over to you for a moment. What do you see as the key cyber risk themes for 2023?

CJ Dietzman (03:53):
Well, listen, what a fantastic and important dialogue we're having, and I think it's an important question in consideration. And I think, you know, Brendan said a lot of key things which kind of have us all extremely excited and thrilled to be here with Alliant and building something innovative for the market right now to take advantage of from a cyber risk standpoint. You know, a couple things, as I think about 2023... minimalist controls, I would tend to say, not enough. You know, let's get ahead of carrier and market expectations around cyber risk. I think one of the things that we're excited to bring to the market for Alliant clients in 2023 will be a full cyber risk ecosystem. Something that truly delivers on the promise of integrating cyber risk management with cybersecurity, with cyber insurability, and meeting and exceeding market expectations and carrier expectations.

So rather than enabling a situation, dare I say, or facilitating a situation where clients are just constantly behind the curve on keeping up with control expectations and requirements from carriers, let's get ahead of it. Let's leverage things like continuous controls monitoring, true integration of managed services that address critical cyber risk, including those components that are most important to carriers. And all of this must be rooted, must be rooted, on an ever-evolving cyber threat landscape. We've been dealing with the ransomware epidemic, those of us in the trenches and the front lines of this, for several years now. It won't look the same in the next 36 months. It'll continue to evolve and, we don't want our clients to get caught flatfooted in the face of those evolving threats.

David Finz (05:43):
Thank you for that, CJ. And you know, that really sums up our approach here. I think in terms of the way that this evolving threat has been managed from a consultative standpoint by our firm, right? It's not just about the transaction, it's about getting out in front of this and helping our clients position themselves as better risk in the eye of the underwriters and to get them better pricing and coverage terms. Jay, any final thoughts?

Jay Stampfl (06:09):
Yeah, David, you know, look we all know that the cyber landscape is really hard to navigate, right? Threat actors are continuing to get smarter and more sophisticated. Solutions that were potentially brought in by clients and companies to help solve risks may not be as relevant today as they were, a year, two years, three years ago. The cyber insurance market continues to be challenging for many clients. And look, I'm excited to be leading a practice here that's going to help advise clients holistically across the cyber risk landscape.

David Finz (06:39):
Well, we are certainly glad to have the three of you on board, and we have every confidence that our clients are going to be able to reap the benefits of that in 2023. Well, here at Alliant, we are all about helping our clients find The More Rewarding Way to Manage Risk. And if you'd like to learn more about our offerings in this area, then I would encourage you to visit our website at www.alliant.com/cyber.

That's all for now. Until next time, thanks for listening.