Founder Shield vs Hiscox Cyber Insurance

Founder Shield is a retail insurance brokerage, described on its site as “the innovation arm of The Baldwin Group,” and places Founder Shield Cyber Liability Insurance with third-party carriers rather than underwriting the policy itself. ⁷Company-reported. About-us page; applies to Founder Shield's brokerage model generally, restated here for this line.

Hiscox Inc. sells cyber insurance directly online as a standalone product for small businesses, separate from its business owner's policy, which also offers an optional cyber add-on. ¹¹Company-reported. Company-stated standalone small-business cyber product; the BOP cyber add-on is a distinct package option described on a different page.

Founder Shield says it places policies, including Founder Shield Cyber Liability Insurance, only with carriers rated A- or better by AM Best, chosen for the client's industry. It does not name the issuing insurer for this line; that depends on which carrier the policy is placed with. ³Company-reported. General carrier-selection FAQ, not specific to this line's placements.

Hiscox's appetite guide and About Hiscox US page name Hiscox Insurance Company Inc. (NAIC 10200) as the underwriter of admitted Hiscox NOW cyber policies. ^13,10Company-reported. Admitted small-business cyber coverage as described in company materials; the exact contracting entity for a particular state or channel should be confirmed on the quote.

Founder Shield calls cyber coverage a priority for healthcare, financial services, SaaS and e-commerce companies, citing their exposure to data breaches and business interruption. ⁶Company-reported. Cyber Liability product page.

Hiscox markets cyber insurance to small businesses broadly and specifically to IT and technology consultants, describing itself as customizing coverage for the technology sector's data-handling and security exposures. ^11,12Company-reported. Company-stated audience across the standalone cyber page and the IT-insurance page.

Founder Shield lists loss or damage to electronic data, income loss and extra expense from a system outage, cyber extortion payments, and breach-notification and reputation-management costs as the branches of cyber coverage it places. ⁶Company-reported. Product page; the issued policy and declarations control actual coverage.

Founder Shield says cyber policies typically exclude loss of value from stolen IP, internal technology system upgrades, and possible future lost profits. ⁶Company-reported. Product page; specific exclusions depend on the issued policy.

Hiscox describes cyber coverage as responding to data breaches, cyberattacks and related losses, and its IT-insurance page shows an illustrative breach-response example describing notification and related costs after a data incident. ^11,12Company-reported. Product-page description; the illustrative example is explicitly a hypothetical scenario, not a specific limit or claim outcome, and actual coverage terms are set by the issued policy.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

The cyber product page does not publish standard limit, retention or deductible amounts; figures shown elsewhere on the site are illustrative examples rather than quotes. ¹¹Not publicly disclosed. Public product page as previously reviewed.

Not described in the reviewed sources.

The reviewed cyber product page does not describe ongoing security-monitoring or risk-prevention services made available to policyholders; it describes post-incident breach-response coverage rather than a monitoring service. ¹¹Not found in reviewed sources. Standalone cyber product page as previously reviewed.

You request Founder Shield Cyber Liability Insurance through Founder Shield's website or an insurance advisor rather than binding coverage directly; Founder Shield says its placement team then approaches carriers on the client's behalf. ^7,3Company-reported. About-us and carrier-selection pages describe the general placement process, not a line-specific application form.

Hiscox says eligible buyers can get a cyber insurance quote online, with a licensed-agent phone line available for questions during the process. ¹¹Company-reported. Company-described online application; eligibility and binding conditions require confirmation on the actual application.