Moving beyond the annual application cycle. A joint perspective from the CISO and insurance leadership at Spektrum

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Cyber risk is not static, yet cyber insurance underwriting largely is. Annual submissions freeze an organization’s posture and commitments in time, even as environments are in constant flux. This mismatch creates risk for insurers and for insureds. Continuous insurability replaces this model with ongoing posture validation, enabling coverage decisions that reflect reality rather than assumptions.

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The problem with point-in-time underwriting

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Annual underwriting made sense when cyber risk was less dynamic and controls changed slowly. That is no longer the case. Cloud adoption, remote work, and evolving threat techniques mean an organization’s risk profile can shift significantly within a single quarter.

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Yet underwriting inputs are often locked in for twelve months. Insurers are left with limited visibility into posture drift, while insureds receive no feedback when their environment moves out of alignment with coverage expectations.

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Continuous insurability defined

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Continuous insurability means that an organization’s eligibility for coverage is assessed on an ongoing basis, using live posture data rather than annual declarations. It does not require constant re-underwriting. Instead, it relies on continuous verification of a defined set of conditions that underpin coverage.

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At Spektrum, those conditions are expressed through Resilience Tokens and tracked within the Resilience Passport. As systems change, tokens update. When gaps appear, they are visible immediately, not months later.

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Closing the feedback loop

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One of the most valuable aspects of this model is the feedback loop it creates. If posture degrades, we know. If a control fails, we see it. More importantly, we can address it before it becomes a renewal issue or a claims dispute.

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Spektrum supports this through structured Journeys that prioritize remediation steps aligned with insurance requirements. This means posture improvement is not abstract. It is directly tied to maintaining coverage eligibility.

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Implications for claims and trust

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Claims have unfortunately become the nexus of where trust is tested. Disputes often arise not because of bad intent, but because of uncertainty or lack of visibility about what controls were in place at the time of an incident.

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With continuous insurability, that uncertainty is dramatically reduced. Insurers already have a verifiable record of posture leading up to the event. This accelerates claims handling, reduces investigative cost, and improves outcomes for all parties.

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A more mature risk relationship

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This model shifts the relationship between insureds and insurers from transactional to collaborative. Instead of interacting once per year, both sides operate from a shared understanding of posture and risk. Insurance becomes a living relationship, not a static contract.

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Cyber insurance must evolve to match the reality of cyber risk. Continuous insurability does not add complexity. It removes it by grounding coverage in verifiable truth. This is how we create insurance programs that are fairer, more responsive, and better aligned with how organizations actually operate.