Claims are triggered as the world's second-rated cloud service provider suffers service outage bringing down multiple regions around the world for 2.40 hours.
NEW YORK — January 26, 2023 — Parametrix, the leading provider of downtime insurance, yesterday monitored an outage of Microsoft Azure, the world’s second-ranked cloud service provider†. One of the ‘Big Three’, which includes Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Azure boasts a reported 22% global market share. Thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of users were affected by the outage event, for which most companies impacted will be entirely uninsured.
MS Azure experienced an outage event that affected Azure resources in multiple regions. The incident lasted for two hours and 24 minutes, according to the proprietary Parametrix Cloud Monitoring System™, which identified the event immediately. PCMS triggers coverage provided by Parametrix, the New York-headquartered insurance provider and Lloyd’s coverholder.
Error Rates in Azure Resources
MS Azure Outage, 25 January 2023 Error Rates in Azure Resources, UTC time, as recorded by Paramtrix Cloud Monitoring System (Source: Parametrix)
Claims payments within weeks
Parametrix will issue claim payments to eligible insureds within weeks, not months, of their confirmation of loss. Previous claims have been paid by Parametrix within five working days.
“We’re committed to supporting Parametrix policyholders who have been affected by this incident. We will swiftly help them mitigate any financial loss caused by the outage, according to the high standards we have set for service excellence,” said Yonatan Hatzor, co-founder and CEO of Parametrix. “That’s what we’re here for.”
He continued: “Companies which are not in possession of dedicated cloud downtime insurance may try to claim coverage under their dependent business interruption cyber cover, if they have it, but they will have to quantify their losses, which are unlikely to exceed their deductibles or waiting periods. This event demonstrates that the traditional cyber BI policies do not provide sufficient coverage to insureds.”
Concerns about cloud downtime risk exposure are increasing, as businesses world-wide become increasingly dependent on cloud computing. Parametrix will issue its first annual Cloud Outage Report in the coming weeks.
† according to Dgtl Infra.
Parametrix is a pioneer in the monitoring and modeling of cloud providers and cloud-based services. Our platform automates risk assessment, pricing, and modeling of these sophisticated platforms. Parametrix continuously monitors a variety of third-party IT services across the globe to collect granular data on service interruptions. We generate real-time alerts on outage events, and provide access to valuable data sets. As a Managing General Agent and Lloyd’s Coverholder, Parametrix underwrites parametric insurance against outages of the cloud, CDNs, or e-commerce platforms, backed by major A-rated global insurers. Parametrix operates from offices in New York, Tel Aviv, London, and Munich.