A new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center's insurance task force, “Cyber Insurance: A Guide for Policymakers,” looks at the need to create a well-functioning market for cyber insurance and the obstacles that must be overcome.

The recent and anticipated growth in the cyber insurance market is due, in large part, to the growth in cyber attacks, which carry a significant cost. But it has been difficult for insurers to assess how much risk they are insuring against from these attacks.

Obstacles to the further development of the cyber insurance market include improving the collection and sharing of high quality data on cyber incidents, the potential for catastrophic losses that could result from attacks on whole sectors of the economy, and the difficulty of protecting against fast changing hacking technology. Even companies that know they need cyber insurance are not always clear on how much coverage they need or are getting, according to the report.