A new report shows that the cost of global cyber insurance increased by more than 30% in 2021. According to Howden's Cyber Insurance: A Hard Reset report, contributing factors to such an increase in cyber insurance costs across the globe are higher rates of ransomware attacks and changing regulations around the world.

Indeed, according to the report, not only have ransomware attacks increased by more than 170% since 2019, but the average ransom payment has gone from just $43,600 in 2019 to more than $220,000.

Another interesting aspect of this year's report is the trend that more insurance brokers are being much more careful of who they insure and taking a hard look at the organization's security and risk and resilience programs within the company. 

According to the report, "Carriers are becoming increasingly discriminatory when weighing up capacity deployment and are demanding extremely high cyber security standards. Impeccable cyber security hygiene is therefore crucial for companies looking to purchase cyber insurance cover. Not only does it open up capacity availability, it also helps provide more favorable pricing and terms."