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Google has arranged special insurance for its cloud – if you share some data with Allianz and Munich Re

Pitches 'shared fate' scheme as an upgrade to current convention of cloud sec being your problem

Google and insurance colossi Allianz and Munich Re have teamed on a special insurance policy tailored to the G-Cloud.

Named the “Risk Protection Program”, this is not a sign that Google’s cloud needs extra insurance. Instead, the ads and search giant thinks it's found a way to improve your security by sharing information about your practices with the giant insurers.

Given that cyber-risk insurance covers losses incurred after a breach or other incident, insurers have every reason to want more information so they can understand exactly what they’re getting into. Hence this new product will see Google share details of its platforms with the two insurers, and d require users to deploy a diagnostic tool called “Risk Manager”.

Risk Manager assesses users’ cloud security stance and shares reports back on its efficacy to the insurers.

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“Working with their broker, customers can use Risk Manager to send reports to Allianz and Munich Re, who in turn can leverage the reports to assess customers’ security posture,” Google explains.

Google’s also mentioned that it will suggest optimally secure configurations and offer automation to improve security for its cloud users.

If the insurers like what they see from the Risk Manager report, and see users following Google’s security guidance, they may choose to offer the new “Cloud Protection +” insurance policy. Google says those policies offer better coverage than rival products and perhaps a better price, too.

Which is quite the incentive to share that data and follow Google’s advice.

The three companies reckon this arrangement works because today insurers don’t get information from cloud operators. Google thinks that sharing information about its platform and a user’s cloud rig, then giving customers tools more likely to keep them safe, means users, Google and insurers move from “shared responsibility” to “shared fate”.

Allianz has done something similar before: in 2018 it teamed with Apple, Cisco, and insurance giant Aon to offer policies that were dependent on customers using certain combos of products from Cupertino and Switchzilla.

Google claims it’s the first cloud to have done something similar.

It’s very on-brand for Google to require users of its cloud to share data in order to manage risk. Just what happens to that data is hard to discern, as the Risk Protection Program is currently “in Private Preview for customers in the United States”. While the offering has a dedicated website, it doesn’t include any legalese that would shed light on its minutiae.

A fact sheet states that cover can reach US$50m for coverage of policy-holders’ own IT environments and Google Cloud presences. ®

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