Compare Cyber Insurance Quotes

Cyber insurance is a commercial policy that covers losses from cyberattacks and data incidents. It breaks into two sides: first-party coverage pays for your losses (system restoration, ransom, lost revenue), and third-party coverage pays for claims from others (customers whose data was exposed, vendors harmed by a disruption).

A modern cyber policy also bundles incident response services: 24/7 hotlines, pre-vetted forensics firms, breach coaches, PR specialists, and legal counsel. When an incident happens, you call one number and the insurer's machinery takes over. For most small businesses, this bundled response capability is more valuable than the dollars on the policy.

A small business with under $5M in revenue typically pays $1,200-$3,500 per year for a $1M/$1M cyber policy (first-party and third-party limits). Cost scales with revenue, data sensitivity, and security posture. Here's the 2024 range by industry:

• Retail, trades, professional services: $1,200-$2,500/year for $1M coverage.
• Healthcare, finance, law: $2,500-$5,500/year — higher data sensitivity and regulatory exposure.
• Technology / SaaS: $2,000-$6,000/year depending on whether customer data is hosted.
• Enterprises ($50M+ revenue): $15,000-$75,000/year for higher limits and broader coverage.

Carriers now underwrite based on active security scans. Having MFA, EDR, and backup segregation can drop premiums 20-40%. Missing basic controls often results in declined quotes.

Every cyber policy should include these eight coverages. If any are missing, push back on the broker.

• Incident response — 24/7 hotline, forensics, breach coaching.
• Data breach notification — Notifying affected customers, credit monitoring, call-center costs.
• Cyber extortion / ransomware — Ransom payment and negotiation support.
• Business interruption — Lost revenue and extra expenses during downtime.
• Social engineering / funds transfer fraud — Wire fraud, CEO fraud, BEC attacks.
• Regulatory defense — Legal fees and fines from HIPAA, GDPR, state privacy laws.
• Third-party liability — Lawsuits from affected customers and partners.
• PCI / payment card liability — Fines from card networks after a payment breach.

As of 2024, underwriting standards have tightened dramatically. Most carriers will decline to quote — or charge 2-3x higher premiums — if you're missing these controls:

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) on email, remote access, and privileged accounts.
• Endpoint detection and response (EDR) — not just antivirus. CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Defender for Endpoint all qualify.
• Offline or immutable backups tested at least quarterly. Ransomware that also encrypts backups is the #1 catastrophic loss scenario.
• Email filtering with attachment sandboxing and URL rewriting.
• Vulnerability management — regular patching, especially for internet-facing assets.
• Written incident response plan, tested annually.

Insurers run external scans before binding. If your perimeter shows exposed RDP, unpatched VPN appliances, or open database ports, expect a declined quote.

Time matters. The first 24 hours drive 80% of the eventual cost.

1. Call the insurer's 24/7 hotline before doing anything else. The incident response team will coach you through evidence preservation. Do NOT wipe systems, reset passwords, or power off servers until you've talked to forensics.
2. Do NOT negotiate with attackers directly. The insurer's ransom negotiators have leverage you don't.
3. Preserve logs and system images, even if you're restoring from backups. Forensics needs them.
4. Notify legal counsel and law enforcement (FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov). Your policy almost always requires it.
5. Do NOT issue public statements until the breach coach approves. Premature disclosures create legal exposure.

A typical SMB incident runs 7-14 days from discovery to restoration. Your premium and deductible will rise at renewal, but the alternative — no coverage and no IR team — is often business-ending.