Cyber Insurance Just Got More Expensive Again
Welcome back to THE IT EDGE. Cyber insurance spent three years getting cheaper, and that run ended heading into renewal season.
The Number to Know
S&P Global Ratings projects a 15 to 20% premium increase for cyber policies in 2026. That follows a 6% drop in 2025 and rates that sat roughly 22% below the 2022 peak. So buyers who got used to flat or falling quotes should plan their 2026 budget around a real jump. Munich Re names the loss drivers behind the shift: ransomware, data breach, business email compromise, and DDoS. None of those slowed down this year.
Why the Soft Market Ended
Carriers competed hard from 2023 through 2025, and prices fell as a result of that competition. Claim activity never followed prices down. Ransomware volume held at a high baseline into 2026 rather than easing, which kept insured losses up even as premiums dropped. Underwriters have run out of room to keep cutting. Several carriers are pushing for flat renewals in high-risk sectors like healthcare and aviation, and raising rates across the broader book.
What Underwriters Check Before They Quote
Expect close scrutiny of multi-factor authentication coverage, endpoint detection and response, tested backups, and privileged access controls. A newer line of questioning has arrived too: AI agents and what systems they can reach. An agent with broad access and no logging reads as uncontrolled risk to a carrier, and they will price it.
The practical move is to document your controls before you sit down to renew. Pull your MFA coverage numbers, your backup test dates, and an inventory of any AI tools with system access. Walking in with that evidence gives your broker something to negotiate with.
Talk It Through
Reach out to EdgeTeam for a quick consult on tightening the controls that move your premium. We can run a pre-renewal review so you walk into the conversation with evidence, not estimates.
Talk Through Your 2026 Strategy With EdgeTeam
One more thing: our brand new website just went live. Take a look at edgeteam.com and see what’s new.
That’s it for this edition of THE IT EDGE. We’ll be back in August with the next one.
