Gallagher launches Middle East cyber risk advisory practice as regional cyber rates fall

Gallagher has opened a Middle East cyber risk advisory practice, Insurance Business reported on 14 October; Intelligent Insurer first carried the news on 12 October. According to the report, the unit sets out to express clients' technical weaknesses as financial and operational risk, so that the results can guide security budgets, mitigation and the amount of cover bought. Gallagher said the practice will use its global cyber risk data to give advice tailored to local clients.

Sidharth Wahi runs the new unit. He joins from security software company Balbix, where he was vice president of product, and earlier designed cyber, third-party and supply-chain risk quantification models at PwC; he has also worked at HSBC. An actuary by training, he has spent more than two decades across insurance, banking, consulting and technology. Wahi called cyber security "a fundamental business risk" rather than a purely technical matter.

The practice targets financial services, natural resources, power and construction. It will operate next to Gallagher's existing regional financial lines and cyber broking team, which Daniel Miller leads.

The launch comes as prices fall. Insurance Business cited Marsh's index for the second quarter of 2026: Middle East cyber rates dropped 5% to 10%, while global cyber rates fell 4%, the twelfth quarterly decline in a row. Gallagher said in May that the UAE faces up to 800,000 cyberattacks a day, about 3.5 times the level before the regional conflict.