A new study conducted by global reinsurance broker Gallagher Re and KYND, a cyber risk intelligence provider that helps businesses and insurers understand and manage cyber exposure, has disclosed that digital footprint data can improve cyber claim prediction beyond traditional underwriting factors including revenue, industry, and geography.
Ed Pocock, Global Head of Cyber Security at Gallagher Re, commented, “We’ve spent a lot of time in cyber asking whether the doors are locked, but we’ve spent much less time asking how big the building is.
“Security indicators matter,as do measures like revenue and industry, but they do not capture the size and complexity of an organisation’s internet-facing footprint. This work with KYND suggests that understanding an organisation’s digital footprint carries its own signal for claim frequency, beyond those established factors.
“We’re only scratching the surface of what this data can tell us, but it gives us a useful, evidence-led starting point for understanding cyber exposure better.”
The paper, Digital Footprint Data and Cyber Claims Frequency: Assessing the Predictive Value of Technographic Insights, highlighted that among the most predictive technographic indicators that were measured, there is a clear link between scale and complexity of an organisation’s internet-facing environment.
The study said, “Distinct ISP count emerged as the strongest contributor, followed by email provider diversity, externally exposed services and IP footprint.”
It also found that organisations with more complex and distributed external digital footprints, as measured through indicators such as ISP diversity, were more likely to experience cyber claims.
This relationship appeared broadly consistent across revenue bands, suggesting these signals provide meaningful insight beyond company size, highlighted the report.
The methodology examined whether a better understanding of an organisation’s external digital presence can help cyber insurers assess the likelihood of future claims.
While traditional factors remain important, Gallagher Re’s analysis suggests they do not fully describe the scale, complexity, and structure of an organization’s external technology footprint.
The report used Gallagher Re’s claims and firmographic data and KYND’s external technographic observations across over 63,000 insured organisations. Rather than relying solely on questionnaires or traditional firmographics, insurers could incorporate observable indicators of internet-facing complexity into underwriting and portfolio management decisions, explained the report.
The study compared two approaches to cyber risk analysis: a standalone model using only technographic observations, and a combined model integrating technographic and traditional firmographic information.
While digital footprint indicators demonstrated predictive value in isolation, the strongest results were achieved when technical and traditional underwriting data were used together, said the pair.
Melanie Hayes, Co-Founder, KYND, added, “For years, cyber underwriting has relied heavily on firmographic indicators. While these remain important, they do not always reflect the scale and complexity of an organisation’s digital footprint.
“Understanding an organization’s external digital estate can provide a valuable additional lens on cyber exposure, as two companies with similar revenues may have vastly different internet-facing environments, creating very different risk profiles.
“As the cyber insurance market continues to mature, data-driven insights into digital footprint and complexity will become increasingly important in helping insurers make more informed underwriting decisions and improve risk selection.”
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