7 Top Cyber Insurance Companies

Cyber insurance is a policy designed to protect businesses from losses that occur as a result of cyberattacks and electronic data breaches. Cyber insurance companies typically cover costs like data restoration, legal fees, consumer credit monitoring, and regulatory fines. We reviewed more than 25 of the top cyber insurance providers and narrowed them down to the seven best.

Best Cyber Insurance Companies

How We Evaluated Cyber Insurance Providers

To identify the top cyber insurance companies, we evaluated several factors, including:

• Financial strength: A history of financial solvency rated by A.M. Best, an insurance-specific credit rating agency
• Coverage highlights: Review of the benefits of purchasing a cyber policy with each carrier, including broad coverage, endorsements, and additional tools
• Appetite: Each company’s ability or preference to insurance-specific types of industries
• Discount opportunities: Opportunities to bundle multiple policies for discounts
• Other features: Unique benefits available to policyholders like online claims management

In reviewing all criteria for many of the small and large cyber insurance providers, Hiscox stands out as the overall best. Hiscox offers the right mix of strength, service, and policy inclusions needed by small business owners, making the entire process fast and easy.

Hiscox: Best Overall Cyber Insurance for Small Businesses

Hiscox gets the nod as our overall best cyber insurance provider because of its team of small business experts dedicated to identifying risks and finding cost-effective prevention solutions. It’s a leader in small business insurance for sole proprietors and microbusinesses. The carrier has more than 15 years of experience continuously underwriting cyber insurance, responding to more than 1,500 cyber and data risk incidents.

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Coverage Highlights

Hiscox offers an enhanced cybersecurity insurance product called CyberClear^®. This policy covers small business owners for existing, and future cyberrisks plus business interruption coverage should operations stop after a breach. CyberClear^® coverage includes:

• First-party breach response costs
• Third-party liability claims including regulatory fines and penalties, cyberextortion, cyberbusiness interruption, and data recovery costs
• Optional coverage for cybercrime, cyberdeception, and social engineering
• Optional coverage for broader business interruption loss, including dependent business interruption, system failure, and dependent system failure
• Costs for voluntary notification of consumers in addition to that required by law

Hiscox also has a team for proactive risk management training and small business rebuilding after a cyberattack with its CyberClear Academy. Policyholders have access to a comprehensive panel of breach response resources, including public relations support, legal services, credit monitoring, and more.

Online quotes are unavailable for cyber insurance. Residents of California, Florida, Texas, Washington, or Georgia are directed to quote with CyberPolicy.

Other Features

Hiscox focuses on its small business niche and produces affordable policies that still cover common business risks. The carrier has an appetite for microbusinesses to Fortune 250 firms in a wide range of industries, including professional services, technology, health care, manufacturing, construction, retail, and financial services.

Generally, businesses can get quotes online for general liability, business owner’s policy (BOP), or professional liability. Hiscox offers up to 5% off for home-based businesses and for buying multiple policies.

Learn more about this carrier in our Hiscox review

Chubb: Best Cyber Insurance for PR and Media Firms

Chubb is the best choice among cyber insurance providers for its policies covering public relations firms and media companies. These businesses often have extensive digital and paper files for clients that contain highly sensitive and confidential information.

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Coverage Highlights

Chubb offers a CyberERM (enterprise risk management) package that is designed to address evolving regulatory and cybersecurity standards. The package includes coverage for:

• Computer ransom demands, including consulting and investigation fees to prevent future attacks
• Lost income due to cyberattack
• Business interruption and extra expenses
• Digital data recovery
• Deleted customer data
• Accidental sharing of customer data
• Legal defense, PR costs, and customer notification costs

If your business faces extortion expenses, most cyber policies with Chubb include coverage for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Coverage is applicable anywhere to address the continued evolution of cloud housing and data storage. Two CyberERM plans are available via the online app, Basic and Plus. The latter includes media liability coverage up to $1 million.

Chubb cyber insurance policyholders may opt-in for cybersecurity services to help secure your business devices against viruses, malware, and other online threats. Additionally, the carrier offers businesses a mobile apple for rapid incident response options and resources in the event of a cyber-related incident, including access to a live cyber response specialist.

Other Features

Chubb offers other benefits, such as:

• 24/7 claims support: Chubb claims representatives are available to assist you at any time. You can also file a claim and estimate damage online from any device.
• Broad, customizable coverage: For each of its business insurance products, you can also customize your coverage to only pay for what you need.
• Global reach: Chubb can help businesses located in, or with operations in, more than 170 countries.

Chubb is working to provide commercial insurance for small businesses that protects their unique risks while also delivering best-in-class service. The carrier recently began offering online quoting through its small business microsite; however, the main Chubb domain directs users to get in touch with a local agent.

Find out what other industries it covers in our Chubb review

CyberPolicy: Best Cyber Insurance for Time-strapped Businesses

CyberPolicy is an online insurance brokerage that partners with many of the nation’s top-rated insurance carriers. This gives CyberPolicy’s customers the advantage of having one application to complete to get multiple insurance quotes. Some of the carriers that CyberPolicy works with include AmTrust, Liberty Mutual, and Nationwide.

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Coverage Highlights

CyberPolicy is ideal for small business owners who want to compare cyber insurance prices and coverages before buying. Their application is easy to complete and often returns quotes from available carriers within minutes. Cyber liability policies through CyberPolicy generally are quoted by other carriers on this list, including Hiscox and Chubb. You get the benefit of comparison shopping multiple top cyber insurance companies at once while knowing you’ll get comprehensive coverage.

Other Features

Aside from time-efficient comparison shopping, the other benefits of CyberPolicy come from its educational tools and cybersecurity resources, including:

• CyberCheckup: Free tool offering expert advice based on your business’s cyberrisks
• Education center: Hub with articles on cybersecurity best practices
• Cyberglossary: A place to learn about cybersecurity terminology
• InsuranceGuru: Another free tool to help assess your other business insurance needs

CyberPolicy offers other business insurance policies, sometimes using multiple carriers to find the best product or price for small business owners. They cover most industries and can work with clients to customize policy options for unique situations.

Learn more about CyberPolicy’s parent company in our CoverHound review

AIG: Best Professional Cyber Liability Insurance for Health Care Professionals

AIG, one of the largest insurance carriers in the world, insures a wider range of businesses than most. This includes health care professionals who are processing not only customer information but also collecting and storing biometric data. AIG has the financial strength to capably handle basic to catastrophic claims affecting consumers and businesses.

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Coverage Highlights

Health care professionals need to be compliant with HIPAA, so they need to acquire robust cyber insurance. AIG offers three cyber insurance packages with varying levels of coverage:

• CyberEdge^®: A basic level package with cyber liability insurance protection to cover data breach costs and first-party costs, including event management, data restoration, and financial costs to third parties, network interruption, and cyberextortion
• CyberEdge^® Plus: The basic cyber liability coverage plus claims as a result from the cyberevent for business interruption, first- and third-party property damage, physical injury to third parties, and products/completed operations coverage
• CyberEdge^® PC: Top-level package offering excess coverage for bodily injury, property damage, and financial loss resulting from a cybersecurity failure

AIG has been writing cyber insurance for nearly 20 years, putting them ahead of most competitors in the space in terms of experience. The application process can be lengthy, but the coverage is unmatched in many ways.

Other Features

In addition to its comprehensive cyber coverage, AIG offers its insureds additional tools and resources to prevent and respond to cyberevents, including:

• Detailed threat scoring and analytics: Custom benchmark reporting to help your business understand its current cyber-related needs and coverages based on your application.
• Loss prevention tools and services: A toolkit of resources is included to policyholders for additional protection from ransomware, ways to prevent employees from falling victim to phishing attacks, and more.
• Global claims expertise: AIG’s CyberEdge^® Claims Hotline is available 24/7 to help implement a business’s response plan and work with necessary vendors to identify threats.

To get coverage with AIG, you need to work with an agent or broker to apply electronically. The carrier provides many of its applications in an interactive PDF format on its website.

Get more information in our AIG review

The Hartford: Best Cyber Insurance for Retailers

The Hartford has a wide appetite for business risk, meaning it covers many industries and business sizes. In particular, The Hartford provides great coverage for retailers that use multiple point-of-sale (POS) systems―both in-store and online and collect customer information.

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Coverage Highlights

If your retail business only needs data breach insurance, The Hartford has an endorsement that can be added easily to its BOP or general liability policy for as little as $35. However, if your business needs more robust coverage, including data breach as well as cyber liability protection, The Hartford offers its CyberChoice package, which includes:

• Data privacy and network security liability
• Privacy regulatory matters
• Media liability
• Incidence response expenses, including notification and identity protection
• Crisis management
• Payment Card Industry (PCI) forensic investigation
• Cyberextortion
• Business interruption expenses

CyberChoice policyholders may add extra endorsements for system failure coverage, dependent system failure coverage for a third-party service provider, and crime coverage. CyberChoice coverage is underwritten through regional offices located across the country, and it’s available in two packages: CyberChoice Secure and CyberChoice Professional. CyberChoice Secure is the policy appropriate for retailers.

Other Features

The Hartford offers additional helpful features including:

• Business insurance checkup: This is an interactive tool to determine if you have the right amount of coverage protection for your business.
• Risk exposure education: Risk is mitigated best with education, and The Hartford provides many resources to help commercial property owners reduce potential claims.
• Added protection: The Hartford includes more endorsements without additional costs in its coverage.

Not only does The Hartford underwrite most types of risk, but its policies also cover more with fewer added costs than their competitors. When it comes to a business owner’s policy, few bundle coverage better than The Hartford. However, if you’re looking for a quick policy purchase online for comprehensive cyber insurance, there are better choices.

Get more information in The Hartford review

Travelers: Best Cyber Insurance for Financial Services

Travelers offers the main business insurance policies as well as many specialty policies owners need in diverse risk environments. Travelers has an add-on cyber liability endorsement on its business owner’s policies that makes it very convenient for financial services to get coverage without buying multiple policies.

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Coverage Highlights

Travelers offers small business owners a cyber liability add-on to their BOP called CyberFirst Essentials^® – Small Business that offers $25,000 limits on information security liability coverage. The endorsement adds a minimum of $150 to your yearly premium. Specialized coverage can also be acquired for technology companies and public entities.

If your business needs more robust cyberprotection, Travelers also offers CyberRisk, which includes coverage for:

• Forensic investigations
• Litigation expenses
• Regulatory defense expenses and fines
• Crisis management expenses
• Business interruption
• Cyberextortion

One unique benefit of Travelers’ CyberRisk is that it covers costs to improve a computer system after a security breach to help eliminate vulnerabilities that could lead to a similar breach. Beyond its cyber insurance coverage, Travelers also has cybersecurity resources offering cyberattack readiness programs to business owners.

It’s important to note the following types of financial service businesses are ineligible for coverage with Travelers:

• Financial institutions with custody or control of customers’ money, securities, or property
• Collection agencies
• Private equity firms, venture capital firms, or hedge funds

However, specialized financial institution bonds and professional liability coverage are available through bond and specialty insurance.

Other Features

Travelers offers all lines of business insurance for companies big or small, making it a great partner to work with for all risk management needs. Travelers uses its national network of agents to take applications. The company’s website helps match small business owners with local agents to make sure underwriting questions are answered properly. Getting the right information at the application process helps protect against unexpected premium adjustments.

Learn more about the company’s unique services in our Travelers review

Embroker: Best Cyber Insurance for IT Startups

Embroker is an online insurance broker that places most of its applicants with top-tier insurance providers but also offers several proprietary lines of insurance. These include directors and officers (D&O) insurance and IT errors and omissions (E&O) insurance policies. IT firms, in particular, can benefit from the broker’s Startup package in the ever-evolving cybersecurity world.

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Coverage Highlights

Because Embroker caters to startups, it has an affinity for IT companies and has developed insurance solutions for cyberrisks. Embroker has built a product that extends from non-technology small businesses to full-service IT businesses. The broker writes its own startup insurance package, which includes directors & officers insurance, employment practices liability insurance (EPLI), technology E&O insurance, and cyber insurance. Cyber coverage features include:

• Data loss, recovery, and recreation
• Business interruption and loss of revenue due to a breach
• Loss of transferred funds
• Computer fraud
• Cyberextortion

The package is a great choice for IT startups to hit the ground running with the policies they need for comprehensive protection. It’s backed by reinsurer Munich Re, which has an A+ (Superior) rating from A.M. Best. Businesses can also get quotes for cyber insurance from multiple top-rated carriers if they don’t need a startup package.

Other Benefits

Embroker offers a unique digital business BOP available for online purchase backed by CNA. It’s available as a standard or enhanced package. The enhanced package includes additional coverage with higher limits that typically doesn’t come in a BOP like computer fraud and emergency management, and it only costs about $300 more than the standard package.

Additionally, venture capital firms can enroll in Embroker’s Venture Program to track the insurance policies of its portfolio companies to ensure they have adequate business coverage. The portfolio companies are eligible for premium credits up to 25% on specific policies if they acquire coverage through Embroker.

Find out more in our Embroker review

What Is Cyber Insurance?

Cyber liability insurance is designed to protect businesses from claims arising from computer hacks, data breaches, ransomware, and otherwise compromised company servers or electronic resources. It covers both the expenses of data restoration and repairs to technology as well as consumer and regulatory costs resulting from compromised personal and private data.

First-party vs. Third-party Cyber Coverage

Top cyber insurance companies with broad coverage options usually offer both:

• First-party coverage: Pays for actual damages to the business, such as data restoration, regulatory fines, and credit monitoring services for customers.
• Third-party coverage: Pays for liability claims made by consumers, plus your legal defense and any civil awards or consumer settlements.

Cyber insurance providers do not cover physical losses of data, such as losses due to fire, flood, or human error like losing a flash drive. Data breach policies cover these losses. While some business insurance companies’ data breach policies cover cyberlosses as well, most cyber insurance companies specialize in digital data coverage specifically.

Many IT companies need cyber insurance to cover allegations if devices they’re responsible for, such as servers, networks, and data storage, fail to meet the highest standards of compliance and security. However, IT firms typically get cyber coverage through their professional liability policies because accusations are related to their professional services.

Bottom Line

The cost to prevent and protect against cyberattacks from occurring is far less than the costs to rebuild data, provide consumer restitution, and pay regulatory fines. Hackers know that small business owners are less likely to implement sufficient cybersecurity, and that makes their businesses easy targets. The top cyber insurance companies don’t just insure the risk―they consult businesses on how to reduce exposure.