Resilience, a cyber risk solutions company that combines cybersecurity expertise, risk management technology and cyber insurance services, has launched a new Private Equity Cyber Risk program designed to help private equity (PE) firms better understand and control cyber risks in their portfolios.
The program combines Arc, Resilience’s cyber risk management platform for complex organizations, with customized insurance endorsements from carrier partners.
Resilience said the product was developed to address insurance and risk management challenges that may arise throughout the investment lifecycle, from acquisition to exit.
According to Resilience, private equity firms face a unique set of cybersecurity challenges compared to traditional businesses. Security teams are often responsible for overseeing multiple portfolio companies, each using different systems, controls and reporting structures. In some cases, companies report directly to private equity firms, while others are affiliated with other parent companies, making visibility and oversight more difficult.
Resilience notes that as portfolios grow through acquisitions, divestments and shared technology environments, cyber risks are likely to become increasingly interconnected. The company argued that many companies still rely on siled assessments conducted at specific points in time, while portfolio companies have limited ongoing safety reporting.
As a result, cyber risks are likely to increase between the initial assessment and the current state of the business, and existing insurance structures may not fully reflect the complexity of modern private equity portfolios.
“Private equity risk transfer demands have exposed structural gaps in standard cyber policies,” commented Maria Long, chief underwriting officer at Resilience. “Coverage often lags behind acquisitions, transition servicing agreements (TSAs) create ambiguity, and broad control group definitions can expand unexpected liability across entities. We designed our underwriting approach to directly address these gaps, providing immediate coverage for new acquisitions, clear TSA support, and tighter control group definitions consistent with portfolio risk.”
Resilience said the program is designed to support companies at every stage of the transaction lifecycle. During the acquisition process, it provides immediate and retroactive coverage to newly acquired portfolio companies through its carrier partners, including support for transitional service agreements and defined liability carve-outs. Arc supports the due diligence process by accelerating cyber risk assessments, premium indications, pre-closing liability quantification and ongoing monitoring of breaches and darknet activity during onboarding, the company added.
Resilience said the plan provides coverage for voluntary shutdowns, third-party service outages and a recovery period of up to 270 days throughout the ownership period. It also includes access to 24/7 claims support and specialist legal and forensic response services. With Arc, companies can gain centralized visibility into their portfolio’s cyber risks, helping them identify priority areas, assess security programs, support investment decisions, streamline updates and monitor emerging risks.
For portfolio exits, Resilience said the plan incorporates more clearly defined control group provisions and ongoing vicarious liability insurance to help the company isolate risk exposures while supporting transaction value. Additional protection includes forensic accounting support, while Arc can generate exportable cyber risk reports designed to demonstrate security maturity and support assessment discussions during the sales process.
Resilience believes the program provides private equity security leaders with a more comprehensive view of cyber risk across multiple businesses, rather than assessing each company in isolation.
“CISOs in private equity are not just responsible for one organization. They are responsible for dozens of organizations, so their approach to security must reflect that,” added Chris Wheeler, chief information security officer at Resilience. “Until now, they have not had a clear way to understand how the risks of one portfolio company affect another company or the entire portfolio. This program with Arc allows them to clearly prioritize and provide targeted control recommendations to mitigate the most important risks.”
Resilience said the combination of portfolio-wide cyber risk visibility, insurance solutions and specialized risk expertise is designed to help private equity firms better understand, manage and mitigate cyber risk while protecting portfolio value.
“Private equity is forced to use tools designed for a single company to manage cyber risk,” noted Vishaal ‘V8’ Hariprasad, CEO and co-founder of Resilience. “We’ve seen this gap first-hand and developed this program to address it, enabling companies to understand how risks develop and be able to tie this insight directly into insurance and financial results.”
