Cyber Insurance Is Getting Harder to Get. Here's Why.
Insurance companies are asking tough questions about security training. Here's what you need to know.
If you've tried to get cyber insurance recently, you might have noticed something: it's not as easy as it used to be.
Applications are longer. Questions are more detailed. And increasingly, insurance companies want proof that your employees have been trained on security.
If you can't provide it? Higher premiums. More exclusions. Or flat-out rejection.
Here's what's going on and what it means for your business.
The Insurance Industry's Wake-Up Call
A few years ago, cyber insurance was the Wild West. Companies would slap together a policy, collect premiums, and hope for the best. Then came the ransomware epidemic.
Suddenly, insurers were paying out millions in claims. Hospitals, schools, law firms, manufacturing companies—everyone was getting hit. The losses were staggering.
Insurance companies realized they had a problem: they were insuring businesses that had no defenses. It was like offering fire insurance to someone storing gasoline next to their furnace.
So they got serious about requirements.
What Insurers Want to See
Today's cyber insurance applications often ask about:
Security awareness training. Have your employees been trained? When? What topics were covered? Can you prove it?
Multi-factor authentication. Do you require more than just a password to access sensitive systems?
Backup procedures. Are your backups stored offline? How often are they tested?
Incident response plans. Do you have a documented plan for handling a security incident?
Access controls. Who has access to what? How do you manage permissions when employees leave?
If you can't answer these questions satisfactorily, you'll face consequences.
The Real-World Impact
I've talked to business owners who've experienced this firsthand:
Higher premiums. One manufacturing company saw their cyber insurance quote jump 40% because they couldn't demonstrate employee training.
Coverage exclusions. A law firm got coverage, but with an exclusion for "social engineering" attacks—which is exactly how most attacks happen.
Application denials. A medical practice was denied coverage entirely until they could prove they'd implemented security training.
This isn't theoretical. It's happening now, across industries.
Why Training Matters So Much
Insurance companies aren't requiring training to be difficult. They're requiring it because it works.
The vast majority of successful cyberattacks—estimates range from 80% to 95%—involve some element of human error. Someone clicks a bad link. Someone enters credentials on a fake website. Someone sends sensitive data to the wrong person.
Training dramatically reduces these errors. Insurers know that a trained workforce is a lower-risk workforce. So they're incentivizing training by making it a requirement.
What "Training" Actually Means
Not all training is created equal. Insurance companies are getting savvier about what counts.
Online certificate mills don't cut it. A 5-minute video followed by a simple quiz isn't meaningful training. Insurers increasingly want to see substantive programs.
Documentation matters. You need to prove who was trained, when they were trained, and what they learned. "We talked about it in a meeting" doesn't provide the evidence insurers want.
Ongoing training beats one-time training. Annual refreshers, updates on new threats, and regular reinforcement show you're serious about security.
Testing demonstrates understanding. Quizzes with passing scores show employees actually learned the material, not just clicked through slides.
The Business Case for Training
Even if you're not worried about insurance, consider this: the same factors that make insurers nervous should make you nervous too.
If insurance companies—whose entire business model is based on calculating risk—think untrained employees are a serious liability, that's worth paying attention to.
Training your team isn't just about checking a box for an insurance application. It's about genuinely reducing your risk. The insurance requirement just makes you do something you probably should have been doing anyway.
Getting Ahead of Requirements
Here's my advice: don't wait until your insurance renewal to think about training.
Start training now. It takes time to roll out a program and get everyone through it. If you wait until your application is due, you'll be scrambling.
Keep records. Document everything. Who completed training, when they completed it, what their quiz scores were. Insurers may ask for this.
Make it ongoing. Plan for annual or semi-annual refreshers. This shows insurers (and protects your business) that security awareness is a continuous priority.
Choose legitimate training. Look for programs with substantive content, assessments, and completion certificates. This gives you documentation that actually means something.
The Bottom Line
Cyber insurance requirements are only going to get stricter. The businesses that thrive will be the ones that get ahead of these requirements, not the ones scrambling to catch up.
Training your employees isn't just about insurance anymore—though it certainly helps there. It's about building a more resilient business that's harder for criminals to exploit.
The good news? This is entirely within your control. You can't prevent every cyberattack, but you can prepare your team to recognize and avoid the most common ones.
Training that meets insurance requirements
PrymoSec provides documented security awareness training that satisfies insurance requirements. Every employee gets: - Interactive modules covering key security topics - Assessments with required passing scores - Completion certificates with dates and scores - Renewal training to maintain compliance
When your insurer asks about training, you'll have the answers—and the proof.