Aon recently announced the acquisition of cybersecurity specialist Stroz Friedberg in an effort to tap into the business opportunities presented by enterprise exposure to cyber threats.
Stroz Friedberg is a firm founded by two former federal officials whose work focused on computer crime. It is based in New York City and has more than 500 employees across the globe.
Through the venture, Aon will expand and create new cyber offerings based on Stroz Friedberg’s specialized expertise in computer crime.
Industry estimates peg sales of cyber-risk coverage in the property-casualty market between $2 billion to $3 billion worldwide in 2015.
According to Aon executives, the acquisition shows an urgent need for the insurance industry to respond to the increasing concern over potentially damaging computer threats, which have spread beyond the retail industry and simple theft of credit card data.
“There is a need front and center, in our face every day, and it is growing in magnitude,” Aon chief executive Gregory Case told reporters.
Further, industry observers note that the acquisition is an indication of a need within the insurance industry to better understand and model cyber-risk.
Traditionally, creating coverage “would have been taking historical data and assessing it,” Case explained. “The market can’t wait for the development of that history. The need is too urgent.”
