U.S. businesses are buying cyber insurance policies with increasing frequency, with sales being driving by recent high-profile data breaches, a report released Monday by Marsh L.L.C. finds.

The report, “Benchmarking Trends: Interest in Cyber Insurance Continues to Climb,” is based on internal data from Marsh.

Across all industries, the number of Marsh clients purchasing cyber insurance increased 21% in 2013 from 2012, according to the report. The data showed that interest in cyber insurance was especially strong in data-intensive industries such as financial services, where the number of clients purchasing cyber polices grew 29% in 2013 over 2012.

The report said the publicity surrounding recent data breaches was helping drive sales of cyber insurance.

“Recent high-profile data breaches, growing board-level concern, and the increasing vulnerability of operations to failure of technology appear to be influencing purchasing decisions,” the report states.

Moreover, Marsh's data showed that companies are buyer larger limits for coverage.

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“Realizing the catastrophic loss that can result from a data breach, more companies have purchased cyber coverage of $100 million or more compared to the prior year,” the report states. “Others are asking what is the total capacity being deployed to any one insured.”

Indeed, the report found that the average limits purchased by companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion rose 10% in 2013 to $28.2 million from $25.7 million in 2012.

The report says companies looking to purchase cyber policies should be prepared to send increasingly detailed internal data to underwriters.

“Although an increasing awareness of cyber risks has moved some companies to explore transferring that risk, the same events have sown caution among cyber insurance underwriters,” the report states. “Insureds should work closely with their insurance advisers to prepare more detailed submissions for underwriters, anticipating their concerns as to outsourcing, technology infrastructure, data security measures, breach response plans, and the emerging legal trends in privacy-related litigation.”