The complexity of an organisation’s digital footprint could offer cyber insurers a more detailed view of claims risk than traditional company information alone, according to research from Gallagher Re and cyber risk specialist KYND.
The analysis examines more than 63,000 insured organisations to assess whether technographic data, which captures an organisation’s externally visible digital estate, can help insurers better understand cyber claims frequency.
The research combines Gallagher Re’s claims and firmographic records with KYND’s observations of organisations’ external technology environments. It considers whether this data can strengthen risk selection while reducing reliance on lengthy questionnaires completed by brokers and policyholders.
Traditional cyber underwriting typically considers factors including revenue, industry and location alongside externally observable security indicators. However, the research indicates these measures do not necessarily reflect the size, scale and complexity of an organisation’s internet-facing technology.
Gallagher Re and KYND tested two different modelling approaches. One model used technographic data alone, while the other combined technographic and firmographic information.
The technographic-only model demonstrated predictive value, but the combined model produced the strongest performance. This indicates that digital footprint data could act as a complementary source of insight alongside established underwriting information rather than replacing it.
The research identified several digital footprint characteristics as particularly relevant to claims frequency. The number of distinct internet service providers was the strongest contributor, followed by the diversity of email providers, the number of externally exposed services and the size of an organisation’s IP footprint.
Organisations with larger and more distributed digital estates were more likely to experience cyber claims, with the pattern broadly consistent across different revenue bands. This suggests that the complexity of an organisation’s online environment can provide information that is not captured simply by measuring its size.
The findings could have implications for the growing use of InsurTech and external data in cyber underwriting. Observable information about an organisation’s digital estate could be incorporated into risk selection and portfolio management, potentially giving insurers another way to differentiate between businesses with similar traditional characteristics.
Gallagher Re global head of cyber security Ed Pocock said, “We’ve spent a lot of time in cyber asking whether the doors are locked, but we’ve spent much less time asking how big the building is. Security indicators matter, as do measures like revenue and industry, but they do not capture the size and complexity of an organisation’s internet-facing footprint.
“This work with KYND suggests that understanding an organisation’s digital footprint carries its own signal for claim frequency, beyond those established factors. We’re only scratching the surface of what this data can tell us, but it gives us a useful, evidence-led starting point for understanding cyber exposure better.”
KYND co-founder Melanie Hayes said, “For years, cyber underwriting has relied heavily on firmographic indicators. While these remain important, they do not always reflect the scale and complexity of an organisation’s digital footprint.
“Understanding an organisation’s external digital estate can provide a valuable additional lens on cyber exposure, as two companies with similar revenues may have vastly different internet-facing environments, creating very different risk profiles.
“As the cyber insurance market continues to mature, data-driven insights into digital footprint and complexity will become increasingly important in helping insurers make more informed underwriting decisions and improve risk selection.”
The research points to a potential expansion in how cyber insurers assess exposure, with technographic data providing another lens alongside conventional firmographic and security information. The KYND analysis suggests that examining the scale and complexity of an organisation’s external digital footprint could help insurers identify differences in claims risk that traditional measures may not capture.
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