Cyber Insurance Planning: Putting an Incident Response Retainer to Work 

Do you know what to do when you’re in the thick of a cyber-attack? Do you have your incident response (IR) team on speed dial? If you don’t have an incident response retainer, you could be setting your organization up for costly losses and downtime in the event of an attack. 

Before we go any further, if you don’t already have cyber insurance, here is a quick “getting it right” guide as to why it matters and how it can help. Cyber insurance provides financial protection against losses from cyber incidents — such as data breaches, extortion, and business interruption. 

But let’s be clear: Every industry was impacted. 

So, what happens when it’s your turn? 

We have previously discussed the value vs. risks and perils of an incident response plan. Having an IR team on retainer can be a game changer. 

Save Valuable Time During a Crisis 

An Incident Response Retainer will speed response and recovery from a cyber-attack — because you’re not trying to find, interview and hire an IR service provider, align with your insurance company on getting these vendors approved, and terms can be negotiated in advance. You’ll essentially have a safety net in place to help you more quickly respond to threats, and subsequently mature your security posture, improve compliance, and proactively harden your security environment.  

An incident response retainer will provide: 

• Immediate access to expertise: Specialists available on demand who can begin documenting, tracking and remediating threats (in coordination with legal and insurance teams), reducing the duration that a threat lives within your environment. 

• Quicker Containment: Pre-negotiated SLAs with a vendor who already knows your business, risk tolerances, and priorities can accelerate response and reduce the blast radius and impact of an attack.  

• Proactive Preparations: Your IR retainer services typically include onboarding and preparation activities, and unused retainer funds can often be used towards risk assessment and gap analysis, tabletop exercises, penetration testing, and other vulnerability checks to strengthen security posture and minimize the chance of incident. 

• Compliance: Your IR team will work with you to ensure you are compliant with the terms of your cyber insurance policy and industry reporting  requirements. 

• Lower downtime and cost: Faster response reduces the overall exposure and helps you limit the spread of the threat (ransomware or data breach), which speeds recovery time, lowers recovery cost, and minimizes lost revenue. It also can reduce reputational damage. 

Secure an Incident Response Retainer to Give Your Organization the Upper Hand 

Working with insurance brokers, carriers, and legal counsel, GuidePoint Security helps organizations understand, prepare for, and optimize cyber insurance coverage.  Want to understand more about optimizing your Cyber Insurance and Legal Strategy? Check out our whitepaper.