Why CaaS Delivers a Winning Strategy for Cheaper Cyber Insurance

Any business with data and an internet-exposed edge is a potential target for malicious actors. Since that means basically everybody, it follows that everybody must take cybersecurity seriously.

Cyber liability insurance improves cyber resilience. But as the threat of cyberattacks increases along with their impact, so too does the cost of insurance premiums.

We know a way around that. Put simply, Compliance as a Service (CaaS) improves cybersecurity posture which, in turn, reduces cyber insurance premiums. That’s the short of it… what follows is the long. (Also, make sure to read our comprehensive guide with insights you can leverage: Cyber Insurance and CaaS, Your Offense Against Cyber Threats.

The Relationship Between Compliance & Cybersecurity

NIST CSF, ISO 27001, SOC2, CIS, CMMC, HIPAA. Would it surprise you to learn that all of these are, at their core, frameworks for cybersecurity? Whether concerned with consumer data, health information, or national security, they all prescribe controls that safeguard a business against cyber incidents.

Compliance with these frameworks requires implementation of the most effective controls against cybersecurity attacks we currently have. Things like risk assessments, access controls, continuous monitoring, and awareness training. These controls are developed by the highest levels of cyber intelligence and based on experience identifying threats and responding to incidents.

In a nutshell, a business can’t achieve compliance with any of these frameworks without addressing and fixing their cybersecurity vulnerabilities — and that’s how compliance mitigates cybersecurity risks, and significantly reduces the likelihood of a cyber incident.

What is Cyber Insurance?

Standard business insurance policies don’t cover losses from cyber incidents. If something happens, and a business doesn’t have cyber liability insurance, that business will be covering the costs.

Cyber liability insurance emerged to bridge that gap. Cyber insurance differs between policies and providers but, generally speaking, it covers costs for remediation, investigation, settlement, refunds to customers, and ransoms. With these damages covered, a business is far more likely to recover from an otherwise devastating situation.

The Challenges of Cyber Insurance

That all sounds great, of course, but getting cyber insurance has become increasingly difficult and expensive. In a digital environment rife with increasingly sophisticated malicious actors that can cause catastrophic damage, cyber insurance providers have had to re-evaluate their own exposure to those losses. The result is higher premiums and limited coverage.

As if the financial barriers weren’t enough, providers now ask applicants about security controls before even providing a quote. It’s becoming standard practice for providers to require policies around multifactor authentication (MFA), backups, awareness training, vulnerability scanning, and patch management.

CaaS for Cheaper Cyber Insurance

All that to say that cyber insurance providers are looking for, you guessed it, cybersecurity controls. Insurers understand that cybersecurity controls can both prevent an attack and limit damage. It follows that businesses who have taken the steps to strengthen their security posture are less costly to insure, and that means access to insurance at better rates.

CaaS providers are in the business of compliance, which means they can easily get into the business of facilitating cyber insurance. The reverse is also true: MSPs who facilitate cyber insurance for their clients can easily move into CaaS. This is how it works.

From CaaS to Cyber Insurance

For MSPs moving into the compliance as a service space, we’ve put together a SKU. The items on this SKU are things you’re likely already doing, making it easy to move into the compliance space. It includes:

Multi-factor authentication
Backups
Security awareness training
Policies and procedures
Antivirus.
Assessments

Notice something? Everything in a CaaS package lines up (almost exactly) with what insurance providers are asking for. Plus, there’s the added bonuses of backing everything up with policies and procedures, which gives you the evidence you need to prove you're regularly engaged in effective risk management.

From Cyber Insurance to CaaS

Helping clients with cyber insurance applications means ensuring that they have the right policies, processes, and controls in place. All insurance companies are asking for those five things we listed above so, bare minimum, you’ve got to get those things in place.

By successfully helping clients acquire cyber insurance, and getting those pieces in place, you’ve brought them steps closer to compliance with other frameworks. From there, it’s not too difficult to sell a client on CaaS.

For one, cyber insurance controls aren’t a one and done thing, it requires your continuous involvement. Additionally, helping your clients implement even more robust controls can lead to SOC2 certification or NIST CSF compliance, which benefits you both. On your end, you’ll see improvements in Monthly Return Revenue (MRR), and your client opens the door to bigger and better contracts.

Compliance Scorecard Cyber Insurance Tools

Whether you’re a CaaS provider that’s helping clients with cyber insurance, or you’re an MSP using cyber insurance to open the CaaS door, Compliance Scorecard has all the tools you need to get the job done.

Cyber Insurance Scorecard: See what your clients are doing right, and what they’re doing wrong, in relation to cyber insurance requirements. Our Insurance Scorecard gives you an easy-to-understand visual and percentage score to support the conversation.
FifthWall Integration: Efficiency is at the heart of everything we do, and that includes helping you with insurance applications. Fill out the questionnaire once, and we’ll send it to 40 carriers through our FifthWall integration.
Other Integrations: Vulnerability scanning, patch management, asset management, and other controls may come up in insurance applications, and they’ll definitely come up in cybersecurity frameworks. We’ve got a host of integrations on our platform, so you can tick those boxes on behalf of your client, too.
Policy Documentation: Need a policy around security awareness training? Or access controls? Or anything else? Use our expertly designed policy docs, which can then be expertly managed through our platform.
Audit Readiness: When you need to provide proof of cybersecurity, compliance verification and attestations can serve as that evidence. And it’s all tracked, stored, organized, and categorized in one place.

More Than Just Another Service

There’s good reason for the rising cost of cyber insurance. Providers have to cover their own exposure to the catastrophic damage caused by cybersecurity incidents. While this has made it difficult for businesses to attain coverage, it’s forced everyone to take a closer look at their cybersecurity posture.

Investing in CaaS is one way for your clients to reduce their cybersecurity risk and, at the same time, access cyber insurance at affordable rates. As an MSP, you’re well positioned to be the CaaS provider that helps them get cyber insurance, or a cyber insurance facilitator that becomes their CaaS provider – and you can do it all with Compliance Scorecard. Learn more about its features in a free live demo.

Want to learn more? Download our comprehensive guide: Cyber Insurance and CaaS, Your Offense Against Cyber Threats (and Regulators).