A few years ago, cyber insurance was treated like a nice-to-have. A checkbox item for tech companies and banks. But something shifted. Now, everyone from your local dental practice to mid-sized manufacturers is asking about it. And insurance companies noticed. They’re suddenly offering broader coverage, better terms, and actively hunting for new customers. Which sounds great, right? More choice, better protection. But here’s what’s been bothering me: sometimes growth makes people forget what they’re actually good at.
The Maturation That Came With Real Risk
Cyber threats aren’t new, but our understanding of them has finally caught up to reality. For years, companies underestimated how much damage a breach could do. They thought about it as an IT problem. A technical glitch. Something that happened to “other people.” Then ransomware attacks shut down hospitals. Supply chain hacks paralyzed entire industries. People lost access to their money, their medical records, their identities.
That changed the conversation. Insurance companies started taking cyber seriously because their clients started losing serious money. Underwriting got sharper. The people designing these policies actually started asking good questions: What’s your data worth? How quickly can you recover? What’s your real exposure?
This is genuinely good news for anyone who needs protection. It means cyber insurance products are built on actual risk analysis now, not guesses. It means the people selling them understand that a breach isn’t just about the technical fix—it’s about downtime, reputation damage, customer trust, and regulatory fines. They’re pricing risk more accurately because they have to.
But here’s where it gets complicated.
When Growth Tempts You to Do Everything
I see this pattern in product design all the time. A company succeeds at one thing. They build real expertise. Then they look at adjacent markets and think: we could do that too. Maybe we should do everything. Before long, they’re stretched thin, losing focus, and doing nothing particularly well.
The same thing is happening in cyber insurance. The market is booming, so everyone wants a piece of it. Traditional insurers are expanding their cyber offerings. Specialized cyber firms are pushing into areas they don’t deeply understand. The result? You get insurers offering coverage for things outside their wheelhouse, in categories where they don’t have the expertise to properly assess risk or support claims.
This sounds like a technical problem. But it’s actually a human problem.
When you need to file a claim, you’re not just dealing with paperwork. You’re likely dealing with stress, disruption, and real business impact. You need someone on the other end who understands your situation. Someone who gets what actually happened, why it matters, and how to make it right. That requires deep knowledge. It requires having seen hundreds of similar cases. It requires caring enough to get it right.
If an insurer is offering cyber coverage as just another product line—without the specialized expertise to back it up—the people caught in a real breach are the ones who suffer. Claims take longer. Coverage gets disputed. People end up in painful situations they thought they were protected against.
Staying in Your Lane Isn’t Boring, It’s Responsible
I’m not saying cyber insurance companies should never grow or expand. Of course they should. But there’s a difference between expanding into areas where you can build real expertise and just stretching yourself thin because the market is hot.
The best insurance—like the best design—comes from depth, not breadth. It comes from people who’ve studied a problem hard enough to anticipate what could go wrong. To ask the right questions during underwriting. To actually care about outcomes, not just premiums.
For people buying cyber insurance, this matters more than you might think. When you’re choosing coverage, look at who’s offering it. Do they specialize in cyber? Have they built real expertise? Or are they just one team among many at a giant generalist firm? The difference shows up when you actually need to make a claim.
The cyber insurance market has definitely grown up. The challenge now is making sure that growth is built on real expertise, not just opportunism. Because at the end of the day, insurance is only as good as it is when you actually need it.
Source: The cyber market has grown up. But staying in your lane still matters
Chris Sullivan