Large Technology Business – Cyber Liability Case Study

This company is a large, international technology company operating within the travel and digital services sector.

• Industry: Technology 
• Revenue: £90m+ 
• Employees: 60+ 

The business operates globally, delivering digital platforms and services that are heavily reliant on:

• Continuous system availability
• Secure handling of customer and commercial data
• Real-time processing of transactions and user access

The Challenge

During a periodic review of the client’s insurance programme, a key exposure was identified:

The client held only £100,000 of First Party Cyber cover, which was considered materially inadequate for the scale and nature of the business. 

Key concerns included:

• High reliance on digital infrastructure
• Exposure to ransomware and cyber extortion events
• Significant revenue at risk in the event of network downtime
• Potential costs of forensic investigation, data restoration and crisis management

A detailed discussion was initiated with the client to:

• Highlight the financial implications of a cyber event
• Benchmark their current limit against realistic claims scenarios
• Provide options for increasing coverage

Risk Analysis

To support the advisory process, a ransomware modelling report was provided, tailored specifically to the client’s business profile.

Estimated Financial Exposure

• Medium severity cyber event: approx. £1.8m 
• High severity event: approx. £3.5m 

These figures demonstrate a significant mismatch between:

• Current cover: £100,000
• Potential losses: £1.8m+

What Drives These Losses

The ransomware modelling highlights that costs typically arise from multiple areas:

• Ransom payments (where applicable)
• Business interruption / lost income
• Forensic investigation and remediation
• IT system rebuilds and data recovery
• Legal, regulatory and notification costs
• Crisis communications and reputation management

 Importantly, these costs are core First Party losses, meaning they are only covered under the First Party Cyber section.

Advisory Approach

The recommendation to the client was clear and structured:

1. Highlighting the Exposure Gap

The existing limit of £100,000 was positioned as:

• Suitable only for very small-scale incidents
• Insufficient to respond meaningfully to: 
  • Ransomware events
  • System outages
  • Data corruption

2. Educating on First Party Coverage

The following key covers were explained in practical terms:

• Cyber Response Costs
  • Investigation of breaches and incident containment
• Cyber Restoration
  • Repair and replacement of systems, data and software
• Cyber Extortion / Ransomware
  • Advice, negotiation and payment (if required)
• Business Interruption
  • Loss of income and increased cost of working following system disruption

The conversation focused on operational impact, rather than purely regulatory/data breach exposure.

3. Presenting Structured Insurance Options

A range of increased limits were sourced via specialist cyber insurer markets:

This allowed the client to:

• Clearly understand cost vs protection
• Benchmark realistic limits against their exposure

Outcome

The engagement successfully:

✅ Identified a material underinsurance issue
✅ Quantified the client’s true financial exposure
✅ Delivered tangible upgrade options aligned to risk
✅ Raised awareness of cyber risk at senior management level

The client confirmed that they were reviewing internally with their operations team before making a decision on increasing cover. 

Key Learning Points

1. Many technology businesses are underinsured

Even large, data-driven organisations often carry inadequate First Party limits, particularly where cover has not been regularly reviewed.

2. First Party Cyber is the critical exposure

For businesses like this company:

• The biggest losses arise from operational disruption and system failure
• Not purely third-party liability

3. Data-driven modelling is powerful

Using real-world ransomware loss estimates:

• Translates abstract cyber risk into financial reality
• Significantly improves client engagement and decision-making

4. Limit selection should reflect worst-case loss

A £100,000 limit is:

• Well below even a moderate loss scenario (~£1.7m)
• Likely to be exhausted quickly in almost any major incident

Conclusion

This case demonstrates the importance of proactive cyber risk advisory, particularly for technology-led businesses.

By combining:

• Market expertise
• Claims data modelling
• Clear communication of exposure

We were able to reposition Cyber Insurance from a “tick-box policy” to a strategic risk management tool.