Team Talk with Kaustav: How Technology and AI Influence the Future of Cyber Insurance

by | Apr 7, 2021 | Culture

Technology is evolving in real-time, influencing almost every industry, everywhere in the world. Keeping up with that progress and using it to build competitive advantage is critical if you want your company to thrive. We invited Cowbell’s Principal Data Science Engineer, Kaustav Saha, to tell us more about his role, his first few months at Cowbell Cyber, and what the evolution of technology along with the use of AI becoming mainstream means for the cyber insurance industry as a whole.

Kaustav, tell us about your background and your role at Cowbell Cyber?

My background is in Computer Science and Data Science. I have previously worked as a Data Scientist at eBay and at a smaller organization in Atlanta where I was part of the Technology Innovation Team. My current role at Cowbell Cyber is cross-functional. I have the opportunity to work closely both with the Product and the Data Science Team. It is my job to create Machine Learning Frameworks and KPIs from the data which drives insights and makes a compelling case in front of our potential customers. I am also responsible for developing a full-fledged Data Science practice within the company.

You just joined the team a few months ago. How has onboarding been? 

This is my first month at Cowbell. I had the best on-boarding experience of my life, compared to the various companies that I have worked for. My team provided me with a straightforward checklist and I went through it very smoothly.

Why did you decide to join Cowbell Cyber?

I have worked at both multinational and smaller-scale companies. Typically, the implementation of new ideas at bigger organizations is slow. I have done the most meaningful work of my life, from ideation to product delivery, at the smaller company.  My goal is to do something similar for Cowbell and bring value to the team. I am at a point in my career where I want to drive business impact using technology, AI, and Machine Learning. I am confident that Cowbell will provide me the growth path that I’m looking for as the company grows exponentially and becomes a de-facto standard in cyber insurance.

AI-powered, real-time recommendations will reduce the time it takes for a claim to be processed, and the process itself will become highly automated through more efficient claims routing.

You have been in Data Science for several years now, but never in an insurance firm. How is that different from your previous roles?

My data science experience so far has mainly been in retail and healthcare. In insurance, you need to understand the end-to-end process so that you can help out with data science algorithms. How we can characterize the different risk profiles for example. Gathering domain knowledge is essential. The cyber insurance industry is also a very young market. Many argue that the industry does not have enough historical data. It’s important to keep in mind that cyber threats and therefore cyber risk evolve constantly. Rather than focusing on historical data to assess today’s risk, better sources are modern security systems that produce security signals in real-time.

How do you apply AI in cyber insurance?

AI can be hugely beneficial in cyber insurance. We use it for three major aspects. Firstly, Cowbell’s risk assessment. Our Cowbell Factors™ are powered by AI and deliver real-time risk profiles to any company, using millions of different data points. We also use AI for our underwriting processes. Cowbell has significantly fewer underwriters than competitors, and that is because we use AI (through Moo™, our underwriting AI bot assistant) to inform the underwriting process and automate repetitive tasks, bringing not only speed but also precision to the process. This also enables us to remove bias in underwriting and leaves less room for human error.

How will AI and other technology transform the insurance industry in the future?

Like almost any industry, AI can and will impact how the insurance market operates. An important function will be the generation of preemptive risk signals. Those will help prevent the success of cyber attacks in the first place. It will also help create more personalized policies, through dynamic pricing of insurance premiums and coverages based on a business’s unique risk profile (both of which Cowbell already does). The claims process will be impacted as well. AI-powered, real-time recommendations will reduce the time it takes for a claim to be processed, and the process itself will become highly automated through more efficient claims routing. But, the increased overall automation also brings new challenges to the market. Accidents for autonomous cars for example will be unprecedented, and how those claims will be profiled is not yet certain.
For anyone further interested in this topic, Deloitte recently published a very informative report on the AI in cyber risk.

Is there anything else you would like to mention?

I think the leadership team at Cowbell is very transparent and authentic. At the end of the day, leaders need to be genuine and good people before all. It actually inspires you to go out of your way and take the next step. I feel at home with the Cowbell family.

If you have any more questions about Cowbell Cyber, and are interested in getting appointed, you can contact us at ntrapvrf@pbjoryyplore.nv.
If you would like to join our team and become a Cowbeller yourself, you can apply here!

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