Some industries are so exposed to cyber threats that insurers are increasingly hesitant to cover them—or are raising premiums, tightening exclusions, or walking away altogether.
If you're in energy, finance, healthcare, legal, or manufacturing, you may have heard this phrase already:
“You’re uninsurable.”
But the truth is, most companies aren’t truly uninsurable—they’re just unprepared in the ways that matter most to underwriters.
At Bawn, we work with organizations in high-risk sectors to make their cyber programs not just technically sound, but insurable and defensible. Here’s what you need to know about navigating cyber liability coverage in challenging industries.
Insurers evaluate two things: likelihood of an incident and potential impact. Certain industries rank high on both:
Finance & Fintech: Access to funds, sensitive client data, heavy regulatory scrutiny
Healthcare: Rich personal data, legacy systems, life-threatening consequences
Energy & Utilities: National infrastructure, operational disruption risks
Manufacturing & OT: Limited segmentation, outdated systems, high downtime cost
Legal & Professional Services: Confidential data, ransomware exposure, insider threats
These industries face frequent attacks—and the fallout is massive when things go wrong.
Even if you’ve never had a breach, insurers may:
Deny coverage outright
Exclude ransomware or third-party incidents
Require strict conditions you haven’t met
Quote unaffordable premiums
Why? Because your application raised red flags—either due to missing controls, lack of documentation, or unclear risk visibility.
Some common issues that trigger rejections:
No MFA across all endpoints
Unpatched legacy systems
No documented incident response plan
Lack of cyber risk assessments
Poor vendor management
Incomplete or inaccurate disclosures
Insurers don’t expect perfection—but they do expect actionable risk management and defensible documentation. Here’s what we help high-risk organizations implement:
Not just installed—enforced and audited:
MFA everywhere
Endpoint detection & response (EDR)
Secure, tested, and segmented backups
Patch management with proof
Email filtering and phishing protection
Carriers want to see:
A formal risk assessment
A written information security program (WISP)
An incident response plan
Policy enforcement and versioning
We help clients accurately complete applications and avoid costly mistakes:
Clarify ambiguous language
Align application answers with your actual environment
Flag false confidence from your IT vendor
Underwriters favor companies that:
Know their gaps
Have a remediation roadmap
Involve executives in oversight
Can produce evidence on demand
Bawn was founded by former FBI agents and seasoned CISOs who’ve worked both with victims of attacks and on the side of law enforcement and risk teams.
Our key takeaway?
The difference between “uninsurable” and “insurable” often comes down to how well a company documents, proves, and acts on their cybersecurity program.
If you’ve been told you’re uninsurable—or faced a coverage denial—it doesn’t mean you’re out of options. It means it’s time to rebuild trust with underwriters and show them you take cyber risk seriously.
At Bawn, we specialize in helping high-risk organizations:
Regain insurability
Lower premiums
Secure broader coverage
Build programs that stand up to regulators and insurers alike
→ Let’s turn your “uninsurable” profile into a strong, defensible risk story. Book a complimentary Cyber Insurance Readiness Review with Bawn today.