LAS VEGAS - There are lots of opportunities for insurers to grow their business by offering cyber coverage and other cyber services, but there are many challenges, too, a panel of experts said.

Cyber exposures remain tough to underwrite, so insurers need to recruit staff with specific skill sets to assess cyber risks and to partner with other cyber risk service providers, they say.

“There may not have been a bigger opportunity for (property/casualty) carriers in generations than cyber, said Pascal Millaire, CEO of CyberCube, a San Francisco-based cyber risk modeling firm.

Estimates of the cost of cybercrime are œin the order of $400 billion to $500 billion a year and rising, and less than 1% of that is covered by a cyber insurance policy today, he said during a session of the InsureTech Connect conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

While the rapidly growing exposure provides an opportunity for insurers, cyber risk also presents challenges, several speakers said.

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