Ariel Re and Hiscox Re & ILS have launched a cyber catastrophe consortium called CyberShock. It will offer up to approximately £40m of per-programme capacity for cyber insurers worldwide. Incidents covered include: service supply chain events, cyber propagation events, hardware supply chain events, software supply chain events, and/or catalytic cyber events.

Daniel Carr (pictured), head of cyber at Ariel Re, said: “Ariel Re is an established market for property catastrophe risk and has taken a lead role in the development of Cyber Catastrophe reinsurance products in recent years – increasing our reach in this area made sense.

“We wanted to find another leading reinsurance market to support engagement and involvement across the wider market, and Hiscox Re & ILS was the perfect partner given their long-standing cyber expertise.”

Matthew Wilken, chief underwriting officer at Hiscox Re & ILS, added: “We are pleased to be partnering with Ariel Re, who share our goal to materially improve the existing market approach to cyber catastrophes.

“Against a backdrop of both a lack of clarity around cyber event definitions and meaningful capacity in the cyber reinsurance marketplace, we believe the CyberShock consortium can act as a positive catalyst for the market.”