Pass your cyber insurance underwriting questionnaire
Cyber insurance underwriters tightened their requirements over the last several years. Coverage that used to bind on a one-page application now depends on detailed evidence that you have specific security controls in place. We treat the questionnaire like any other compliance framework: identify the gaps, design the fixes, guide implementation, and package the evidence so your application binds at a reasonable premium.
You get the architecture, the designs, and the documentation — not a list of findings.
Cyberneza turns the requirement into security architecture, control designs, remediation plans, implementation procedures, configuration guidance, and validation criteria — the work that stalls most readiness efforts. Your team applies the changes through its own change process, so nothing reaches production without your approval.
Why this is harder than it used to be
- Ransomware losses pushed carriers to require specific preventive controls before binding.
- Most modern questionnaires have 60+ control questions, often with sub-items and evidence requests.
- Wrong or incomplete answers can trigger remediation demands, premium increases, or denial.
- Brokers can tell you what's missing, but they don't usually design or verify the fixes themselves.
The result: founders and operations leads end up answering deeply technical questions on tight renewal deadlines, without the security background to know what "good" looks like.
Cyber insurance as a framework
Each item on a cyber insurance questionnaire is a security control — a specific safeguard like MFA on remote access, EDR on every endpoint, or immutable backups. These map cleanly onto recognized control frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST, CIS), which means the work you do to pass underwriting also compounds toward broader compliance goals.
Controls underwriters commonly require
Specific items vary by carrier and policy size, but the same control families show up across nearly every modern questionnaire. If a control on this list is missing or weak in your environment, expect remediation requests during underwriting.
Identity & access
- MFA on email, remote access, VPN, and admin accounts
- Privileged access management for admin and service accounts
- Least-privilege user access reviewed on a defined cadence
Endpoint security
- EDR deployed on all laptops, desktops, and servers
- Endpoint hardening — application controls, USB restrictions, encryption at rest
Email security
- DMARC, SPF, and DKIM properly configured
- Anti-phishing email gateway with attachment and link analysis
- Periodic phishing simulations and recorded outcomes
- Account-takeover detection and a payment-verification process — see business email compromise
Network security
- RDP not exposed to the internet
- Network segmentation between user, production, and sensitive zones
- VPN with MFA for remote administration
Backup & recovery
- Immutable or air-gapped backups attackers cannot delete
- Documented and tested restore procedures with defined RTO / RPO
- Encrypted backup storage
- Detection during the hours before encryption — see ransomware protection
Vulnerability management
- Regular vulnerability scanning across endpoints and infrastructure
- Defined patching cadence for critical and high vulnerabilities
- Annual or semi-annual penetration testing
Incident response
- Written, current incident response plan
- At least one tabletop exercise per year, documented
- Central log collection / SIEM with suspicious-activity alerting
People & vendors
- Security awareness training for all staff
- Vendor risk reviews for critical third-party services
How an engagement works
Cyber insurance readiness involves three parties. Naming the roles up front prevents surprises during the scoping call.
Your broker
Identifies which carrier and policy you are pursuing, shares the underwriting questionnaire, and surfaces the questions or controls that are likely to cause friction at bind.
Cyberneza
Translates the questionnaire into a concrete implementation playbook — exact configurations, evidence to capture, and an owner per task. We design the fixes, guide your team through the work, verify each control landed correctly, and assemble a clean evidence package for the underwriter.
Your team or MSP
Performs the hands-on-keyboard configuration in your environment. We do not require admin access to your production systems — your existing staff or managed service provider executes the changes, with us guiding and verifying.
Typical timeline
The work is usually remediation, not paperwork. Closing the gaps an insurer asks about — MFA coverage, EDR deployment, tested backups, log retention — takes 30–60 days in smaller environments with a light gap load. Larger or more complex environments take longer; we will give you a realistic estimate during the scoping call.
What we will not promise
- We are not an insurance broker and do not place coverage.
- We do not guarantee premium reductions — that is the underwriter's decision.
- We do not recommend carriers or policies for your placement — your broker owns that part. Where a security product you already run carries an insurance benefit, we will tell you it exists.
What we do promise is that your control posture will be accurately represented, the gaps that matter for binding will be closed, and the evidence package will hold up to underwriter scrutiny.
One benefit worth knowing about
Huntress and Acrisure run a cyber insurance program for organizations using Huntress Managed EDR and Managed ITDR: cyber liability for end customers, technology errors & omissions for service providers, a simplified application, and a $0 deductible for those who qualify. Cyberneza is an authorized Huntress reseller, so if we scope that stack for you it is worth checking whether you are eligible.
We are not a broker, we do not place this or any other coverage, and eligibility and terms are decided by Acrisure and the underwriter rather than by us. Acrisure’s own guidance applies: the advice of a professional should always be obtained before purchasing any insurance product, and terms and conditions apply. Details are published at huntress.com/hac; the managed stack it depends on is described under managed security.
If you are also pursuing SOC 2 or ISO 27001
Most cyber insurance controls overlap heavily with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 requirements. If a broader audit is already on your roadmap, we can scope a single engagement that satisfies the questionnaire now and positions you for the audit later — without paying twice for the same control work.
The Cyber Insurance Readiness Assessment is the right-sized first step.
A carrier questionnaire is a control checklist — MFA coverage, EDR, offline and restore-tested backups, patch cadence, email filtering, awareness training, a tested incident response plan. It is a read-only review that establishes how you would answer those questions today and what to fix first, delivered as a prioritized roadmap. Its fixed fee is credited in full toward qualifying follow-on work that begins within 90 days of final assessment delivery.
You do not need the full Single-Framework Assessment for this. That engagement maps controls one by one against SOC 2 or ISO 27001 and produces an evidence inventory and readiness score for an auditor — more than an underwriter asks for. Choose it if a framework audit is also on your roadmap, so one engagement covers both.
Next steps
Bring us the questionnaire, the broker contact, and the renewal date. We will walk through your environment, identify the gaps that will block or complicate binding, and give you a fixed-fee proposal to close them in time.