-- Customers managing cyber-risk with Microsoft 365's built-in security 
     controls qualify for savings on At-Bay cyber insurance policies

On Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. is announcing a new multiyear commitment to help 
the insurance industry create superior and data-driven cyber insurance products 
backed by Microsoft's security solutions. Managing risk is a critical business 
objective for all companies. Yet, even with the adoption of best-of-breed 
cybersecurity technologies and best practices, companies can face residual risk 
due to inconsistent management of apps and other productivity platforms 
exploited by a quickly evolving threat landscape. To bridge this gap, insurance 
providers have begun offering policies to help mitigate the impact of data 
breaches and ransomware attacks. 

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/24227/Microsoft_Logo.jpg 

This new area of insurance is growing rapidly; however, uncertainty is common 
as insurers struggle to acquire and use dynamic, real-time data needed to 
mitigate cyber-risk — while growing threats like ransomware drive urgency. 

Given the broad adoption of Microsoft solutions in companies of all sizes, 
Microsoft is working with insurers to address their customers' cybersecurity 
needs and reduce insurers' own risk of loss, through increased data visibility 
and standardized controls. Insurance carriers, agents, reinsurers and brokers 
are required to understand and assess cybersecurity threats for each of their 
insureds. 

With this complexity, insurers are seeking increased visibility into each 
company's security environment and hygiene to better underwrite new policies. 
To address this, Microsoft is teaming with key insurance partners to offer 
innovative data-driven cyber insurance products allowing customers to safely 
share security posture information through platforms like Microsoft 365 ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3306378-1&h=2871839338&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-us%2Fmicrosoft-365&a=Microsoft+365 
) and Microsoft security solutions. All data and details about a covered 
company's technology environment will be owned and controlled entirely by that 
customer, but customers can opt-in to securely share them with providers to 
receive benefits like enhanced coverage and more competitive premiums. This 
model rewards customers with real savings when adopting cybersecurity best 
practices and gives insurers the information they need to proactively protect 
their customers against breaches.
 
Partnership with At-Bay

Today Microsoft announces a partnership under this initiative with 
groundbreaking cyber insurance company, At-Bay ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3306378-1&h=4095391889&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.at-bay.com%2F&a=At-Bay 
). Through its modern approach to risk management, At-Bay assesses the 
cyber-risk of every company it insures and provides actionable insights on how 
customers can improve their security posture. Incentivizing the implementation 
of security controls with improved policy terms and pricing has strengthened 
the overall security of At-Bay's portfolio companies. According to At-Bay, 
their insureds are seven times less likely to experience a ransomware incident 
( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3306378-1&h=408215912&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.at-bay.com%2Freports%2Fovercoming-ransomware%2F&a=seven+times+less+likely+to+experience+a+ransomware+incident 
) than the industry average.   

Beginning Oct. 1, businesses in the United States that use Microsoft 365 are 
eligible for savings on their At-Bay cyber insurance policy premiums if they 
implement specific security controls and solutions, including multifactor 
authentication ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3306378-1&h=1094422162&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-us%2Fsecurity%2Fmobile-authenticator-app&a=multifactor+authentication 
) and Microsoft Defender ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3306378-1&h=2938336917&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-us%2Fsecurity%2Fbusiness%2Fthreat-protection%2Fmicrosoft-365-defender&a=Microsoft+Defender 
) for Office 365. Microsoft is also actively working with At-Bay to identify 
additional ways to improve the digital risk exposure of its customers and 
proactively address vulnerabilities. This offer will be available through 
At-Bay's broker community and available for customers using any version of 
Microsoft 365. 

Interested businesses can contact their insurance agent to get started. In 
addition to these security controls, the level of savings is dependent on the 
loss history and individual risk profile of each business.

"An insurance policy is an effective tool to articulate the impact of 
cybersecurity choices on the financial risk of a company. By offering better 
pricing to companies that implement stronger controls, we help them understand 
what matters in security and how best to reduce risk," said Rotem Iram, 
co-founder and CEO of At-Bay. "Working with Microsoft enables us to educate 
customers on the powerful security controls that exist within Microsoft 365 and 
reward them for adopting those controls."

"For cyber insurance to play a meaningful role in overall risk management, 
buyers and sellers need the benefit of data and clear visibility into what is 
covered and factors either minimizing or multiplying risk exposure," added Ann 
Johnson, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Security, Compliance & 
Identity (SCI) Business Development. "Microsoft's partnership with At-Bay 
brings important clarity and decision-making support to the market as 
organizations everywhere seek a comprehensive way to empower hybrid workforces 
with stronger, centralized visibility and control over cloud applications 
boosting security and productivity."

For more insights from Microsoft and At-Bay's partnership, join the InsureTech 
Connect (ITC) ( https://vegas.insuretechconnect.com/ ) conference, Oct. 4-6 in 
Las Vegas, for a presentation, "Better Together: Microsoft and At-Bay Team Up 
to Help SMBs Proactively Manage Cyber-Risk," at 2 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, Oct. 
6. 

Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era 
of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower 
every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Source - Microsoft Corp.

CONTACT: Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 
638-7777, rapidresponse@we-worldwide.com