Signs cyber market ‘stagnating’ as premium growth slows – Moody’s

Global cyber insurance premiums totalled approximately £11bn ($15bn) in 2024, just 7% higher than the previous year.

That growth rate is markedly lower than that seen over the prior five years, when premium growth averaged between 20% and 40% year-on-year.

The figures come from a new report published yesterday (9 September 2025) by credit rating agency Moody’s, which warned that the market showed signs of “stagnating” as competition grows between insurers.

The report highlighted that the majority of cyber premium growth was accumulated in non-US territories, citing “lower penetration rates and increased regulatory requirements”, particularly in Europe, as key growth drivers.

Despite torpid growth the cyber market remained profitable, attributed in part to significant policy prices increased in 2021 and 2022, as well as the introduction of tighter policy terms.

Costly payouts

Ransomware attacks were found to be the most common reason for insurance claims, although business interruptions remained the costliest payouts for insurers.

Moody’s explained: “There was a significant increase in the number of ransomware attacks in 2024, despite law enforcement actions that disrupted some of the largest culprits, such as LockBit.

“Despite the higher frequency of attacks, data from Chainalysis indicates that total ransomware payments declined by 35% to approximately £603m ($814m) in 2024 from a peak £0.93bn ($1.25bn) in 2023.

“The decline reflects that ransomware victims have become less willing to pay a ransom and are relying on recovering encrypted data from backup systems, improving incident response and implementing other remediation strategies.”