Dive Brief:
- UpGuard announced its Cybersecurity Threat Assessment Report (CSTAR) Wednesday, which it said is the first cybersecurity preparedness score for enterprises.
- CSTAR determines how vulnerable a network is to attacks and advises companies of the weaknesses it finds.
- The White House expects cybersecurity insurance to be as common as product liability coverage by 2020, according to a Nextgov report.
Dive Insight:
UpGuard’s platform was originally designed for mapping networks against compliance standards. To create CSTAR, the company added a new set of features to scrutinize a networks’ susceptibility to external attack.
UpGuard said CSTAR will enable insurance carriers to make smarter underwriting decisions and will also improve availability of cybersecurity insurance policies for businesses.
"It's impossible for businesses to get a clear picture of their systems -- and put simply, they can't even begin to fix what they don't understand,” said Mike Baukes, co-CEO and co-founder of UpGuard. “That shortcoming has led to many high-profile data breaches making headlines and has also left the bulk of the global economy uninsured.”
The cybersecurity insurance market has shown steady growth in both the U.K. and the U.S. over the last year. A recent Wells Fargo survey of 100 U.S. middle-market and large companies found 85% have purchased cyber and data privacy insurance.
Globally, the cyber insurance market could reach $7.5 billion by the end of the decade, according to a report by PwC.
