Cowbell: strengthening cyber defences for SMEs

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With expanded operations in the UK, Cowbell empowers brokers to offer tailored coverage and expert support to their clients. Focused on high-risk sectors, Cowbell strengthens cyber resilience, providing real-time risk monitoring and proactive guidance

THE UK cyber insurance market is rapidly expanding as cyber threats grow more frequent, sophisticated, and damaging. Ransomware attacks, for example, have surged, with cybercriminals targeting both large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), demanding substantial ransoms for data recovery. Data breaches and phishing scams have also evolved, with cybercriminals leveraging AI-driven techniques such as deepfakes to impersonate trusted sources and steal sensitive information. The statistics underscore the urgency: 50 percent of UK businesses have been victims of cybercrime, with many companies facing ransom demands averaging £870,000. Without proper cyber insurance, these costs can be catastrophic. As cyber threats continue to escalate, the need for comprehensive cyber insurance in the UK has never been more critical.

Cowbell is a pioneer of Adaptive Cyber Insurance, offering SMEs and companies with up to £1 billion turnover coverage adaptable to evolving cyber threats. Using an AI-based approach for risk selection and pricing, Cowbell’s continuous underwriting platform – powered by Cowbell Factors – compresses the insurance process to under five minutes and lets businesses benchmark their IT security against peers. Backed by 20 global (re)insurance partners, Cowbell serves companies across 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and the UK. Founded in 2019 and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cowbell’s employees span the US, Canada, India, and the UK.

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“We’re seeing a tremendous amount of success in the UK market, and we now feel confident that this will serve as a blueprint for further expansion into Europe”

Trent Cooksley, Cowbell

With strategic backing from Zurich Insurance Group, which recently provided $60 million in Series C funding, Cowbell is scaling its operations. According to Trent Cooksley, Cowbell co-founder and COO, Zurich’s investment will allow the firm to introduce new products, address emerging market risks, and strengthen its strategic partnerships to better serve businesses in the UK and beyond. “The financial strength of Zurich makes this an incredibly exciting partnership for us, reinforcing what we’ve been working hard to build over the last few years,” said Cooksley. “Our goal is to continue to improve cyber risks for policyholders, and Zurich’s global reach will help us achieve that in more geographies.”

As Cooksley emphasized, developing this blueprint required careful planning. As a pioneer of Adaptive Cyber Insurance, Cowbell made several adjustments to tailor its cyber product offerings to meet the needs of UK clients.

Reflecting on the firm’s expansion into the UK market, Cooksley highlighted key factors that have made the move particularly strategic. He pointed out that the UK is generally less litigious than the US, which creates a more favourable environment for business growth. Additionally, he noted that the UK serves as a valuable gateway into more markets. “We’re seeing a tremendous amount of success in the UK market, and we now feel confident that this will serve as a blueprint for further expansion into Europe,” Cooksley added.

“However, Cowbell’s commitment to cyber safety goes beyond its policies. Clients gain access to a suite of value-added services, including a dedicated team of cybersecurity experts who assist with best practices, security gap analysis, incident response planning, and complimentary cyber awareness training. Through Cowbell’s platform, policyholders can also access tools like Cowbell Insights and Cowbell Factors, which help organizations monitor and improve their cyber-risk profile in real time. In addition, Cowbell Academy offers free training to all policyholders, serving as an educational resource for both clients and brokers, empowering them to better understand cyber threats and engage in more informed conversations with their clients. “Our whole cyber proposition is really targeted at SMEs and designed to support them,” said Cooksley. “Our risk engineering team actively evaluates cyber threats and

exposures across the marketplace. They provide timely alerts to our policyholders, many of whom lack access to this information otherwise. Our value-add is resonating strongly in the marketplace.” For more information on Cowbell’s Adaptive Cyber Insurance, click here.

Tactical partnerships and global expansion

Published December 2, 2024

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“Our risk engineering team actively evaluates cyber threats and exposures across the marketplace. They provide timely alerts to our policyholders, many of whom lack access to this information otherwise. Our value-add is resonating strongly in the marketplace”

Trent Cooksley, Cowbell

Aligning to the UK market

Adapting to the regulatory environment: “We have tailored our policy to address regulatory fines and penalties,” confirmed Cooksley. By doing this, Cowbell remains committed to providing UK customers with appropriate protections that address local compliance requirements. Targeting high-risk sectors: The concentration of UK businesses in high-risk sectors like financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing prompted Cowbell to adjust its policies to address the specific risks these industries face. “We thought about how to tailor our policies to react to the particular risks in these sectors,” Cooksley shared. This focused approach ensures that Cowbell can provide specialized coverage to businesses operating in these vulnerable sectors. Taking a holistic approach: According to Cooksley, businesses in the UK tend to take a more holistic approach to cybersecurity, considering broader risk mitigation and prevention strategies. Cowbell aligned with this mindset, placing a strong emphasis on loss prevention and quick response in the event of a breach. Cooksley explained, “We’ve got a great risk engineering team, and our platform is all about how we prevent losses and respond quickly when cyber events do happen.” Building a local, in-house team: Cowbell has made significant investments in building a robust, UK-based team to ensure its operations align with local market demands. “We have a really strong, local team that understands the environment and knows the players,” Cooksley said, underscoring the importance of local expertise to ensure there were no gaps in their offering.

Cowbell: an essential cybersecurity solution for SMEs

It’s a common misconception that threat actors primarily target large organizations. In reality, SMEs are often more vulnerable to cybercrimes due to limited resources, which makes them less equipped to handle the financial and operational fallout. Fortunately, Cowbell’s cyber-insurance offerings cater to the unique needs of SMEs, providing robust coverage and tools that address the growing cyber threat landscape. Through its closed-loop approach to risk management, Cowbell provides businesses with complete visibility into their risk exposure. “Our SME technology is incredibly robust, and that value proposition is something Zurich was particularly interested in,” noted Cooksley.

Source

Fast fact

50%

of UK businesses have been a victim of cybercrime

Source

Cybercrime

In 2024, UK businesses faced 7.78 million cyberattacks

Only 31% of UK businesses conducted a cyber-risk assessment in 2024

Cybercrime costs the UK economy an estimated £27bn annually