As President Joe Biden pledges to level up cybersecurity response and operations in the wake of the SolarWinds cyberattack, expect the new administration to build upon the current cybersecurity infrastructure. The benefits and drawbacks for the insurance industry are, of course, not certain, but based on previous policies, commissioned reports, and Biden's recent moves, we'll outline some possible impacts on cyber insurance.

Background on cyber policy

The Trump administration made a number of notable cybersecurity policy and strategic moves. Most notably, the creation of the 2018 National Cyber Strategy, which gave birth to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the removal of the dedicated Cyber Coordinator position. Further, the Trump administration brought to bear its cyber policy through a variety of laws, executive orders, and directives. Some of those actions include:

• The Defending the Integrity of Voting Systems Act: Makes attempted hacking of a voting system a federal crime.
• Executive Order 13870: The goal is to stimulate cyber job growth in the private and public sectors.
• Executive Order 13800: The purpose is to modernize federal information technology infrastructure.
• Space Policy Directive-5 (SPD-5): Intended to strengthen cyber posture of national space assets.

Generally, the Trump administration steered away from legislation and executive actions that would bring government policy and the insurance sector together.