
In this episode of the Safe House Cyber Insurance Summer Series, we dive deep with Ryan Mercer, VP of Cyber at McGriff brokerage. With over a decade of experience, Ryan pulls back the curtain on the evolving world of cyber insurance.
He explains why many small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) still aren’t getting cyber coverage, shedding light on challenges like broker education and the increasingly detailed application process.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
✅ The crucial role of brokers: How they’re becoming consultative advisors, guiding clients on cybersecurity best practices (like MFA and EDR) to help them get better insurance terms.
✅ Why prompt incident notification is key: Why you must immediately tell your broker and insurer if a cyber incident occurs for smooth claims and recovery.
✅ The truth about cyber insurance: It’s not a magic shield that prevents attacks. It primarily helps with the aftermath—think legal fees and recovery services—but it doesn’t protect your reputation or guarantee business continuity.
✅ A dynamic market: Understand how this relatively young market is rapidly changing, with new tools like automated underwriting emerging.
This conversation bridges the gap between insurance and effective cybersecurity, highlighting how well-informed brokers are essential partners in navigating today’s complex cyber risk landscape.
What’s your biggest takeaway about cyber insurance? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
#cyberinsurance #SMBsecurity #Cybersecurity #RiskManagement #BrokerAdvice #MFA





What happens when rural hospitals, public utilities, schools, and small governments become targets of cyberattacks but lack the resources to defend themselves?
In this episode of The SafeHouse Podcast, Jeff Edwards welcomes Mike Hamilton, former Seattle CISO and CTO of PISCES International, a nonprofit organization delivering free cybersecurity monitoring and real-world workforce training to underserved communities across the United States.
This conversation is based on a real-world, three-part series designed for everyday people who suddenly find themselves dealing with a hacked account, fraud, or a suspicious alert.

In this SafeHouse episode, Jeff Edwards and Alan Gin break down what actually happens when a cyber incident hits and what you should do next.
This conversation is based on a real-world, three-part series designed for everyday people who suddenly find themselves dealing with a hacked account, fraud, or a suspicious alert.
If you’ve ever wondered what you would actually do in that moment, this episode walks you through it step by step.

Kurt Suhs, Founder and CEO of Concierge Cyber, unpacks why cyber insurance adoption remains low and what businesses are actually doing instead.
Learn how businesses think about risk when they don’t have coverage and why complexity and policy structure are major barriers.

Cyber risk management is often framed as a choice between prevention and insurance. In reality, the most resilient organizations combine both.
In this episode of The SafeHouse, Jeff Edwards speaks with Michael Phillips, Global Head of Cyber at Coalition, about how insurers evaluate cyber risk and why mitigation and insurance must work together.
Building on a previous discussion about the elements of risk management, the conversation explores how underwriters think about cyber exposure, what signals insurers look for when assessing organizations, and why operational resilience is becoming central to modern cyber insurance.
The result is a practical discussion about how businesses should approach cyber risk today.

Cyber risk management is often discussed in technical language. But at its core, risk is financial.
In this episode of The SafeHouse Podcast, Jeff Edwards interviews Davis Hake of Venable to break down how cyber risk should be measured, communicated, and quantified inside organizations.
For CISOs, risk managers, brokers, underwriters, and resilience professionals, this episode provides a practical framework for thinking about cyber exposure beyond compliance checklists.
If you want to understand cyber risk in terms that boards and CFOs actually respond to, this conversation is essential listening.

Federal cybersecurity responsibility has shifted to the states. What happens next?
In this episode of The SafeHouse Podcast, Jeff Edwards welcomes James Saunders, Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Maryland, for a deep conversation on state-level cybersecurity, resilience, and leadership.
James walks through his path from early technical support roles to federal cybersecurity leadership and now to protecting Maryland’s digital ecosystem. He explains Maryland’s IT Master Plan, the state’s five-pillar cybersecurity strategy, and how partnerships, talent, and resilience come together in practice.
This episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at how cybersecurity decisions are made at scale, how states collaborate with one another, and why taking care of people matters as much as taking care of systems.