Founder and managing director
ELMORE INSURANCE BROKERS
After the wave of mega cyber breaches hit the US, Simon Gilbert began writing the business plan to establish Elmore Insurance Brokers in 2012, acknowledging that businesses were becoming increasingly aware of evolving cyber dangers. Prior to establishing Elmore Insurance Brokers, Gilbert held positions at UIB and Howden, where he managed the cross-selling strategy for their international portfolio, as well as developing new products such as cyber insurance. Today, Gilbert utilises his wealth of experience and knowledge to arrange policies to protect businesses from internet-based risks.
“I knew businesses were becoming more aware of the emerging threats and new risks such as cyber. Cyber events were happening in the UK but not being reported, and with the changing regulatory environment such as EU GDPR, I felt it was only a matter of time before we saw data breach headlines in the UK. That’s why we wanted to focus on cyber insurance as our specialism. Cyber security has such broad-ranging consequences for all businesses; it is an area I have followed and worked on closely since my first meeting in insurance back in 2001.”
“We like the term cyber insurance, however we like to explain to our clients it is really a broad headline for a wider category of digital risks that a firm can be exposed to. We put intellectual property, crime, system failure and privacy liability under the cyber insurance header, which normally opens great dialogue with risk-aware clients. We also look to go one step further with businesses and explore the enterprise risks they may be exposed to, including business interruptions, reputation harm and supply chain failure.”
“Cyber risk is not just a matter of a company’s anti-virus or firewall malfunctioning; it comes down to the core operational controls a business has in place to monitor and maintain good working practices. That’s why cyber insurers put a great deal of emphasis on training, operational controls and post-incident response plans, all of which manage the weakest part of the security chain – the human part.”
