Cyberspace and Personal Cyber Insurance: A Systematic Review

Abstract

As individuals become increasingly digitally dependent, cyber threats and cyber insurance to mitigate them gain relevance. This literature review conceptualizes a framework for siting Personal Cyber Insurance (PCI) within the context of cyberspace. The lack of empirical research within this domain demonstrates a need to identify and define the scope of PCI in order to allow cyber insurers to understand customer needs, and to conduct effective management and distribution of PCI products and services. We conducted a systematic literature review of 229 articles that were clustered into three meta-level themes: cyberspace, personal cyber risk, and PCI. The literature review indicates a significant paucity of research related to PCI particularly as it is influenced by antecedent risk externalities, the nature of cyberspace itself, the PCI market and operations, and post-cyber event support. The paper concludes with a proposal for a future research agenda.