WASHINGTON — Insurance coverages available to address cyber risk exposures continue to evolve with the nature of the risk and to meet buyer demand for products that will address holes in standard property/casualty insurance coverage, a group of experts agreed.

“The market has evolved a lot over the last 10 or 15 years,” said Ben Beeson, Washington-based vice president for cyber security and privacy at Lockton Cos. L.L.C. in Washington, speaking Thursday as part of a panel looking at cyber risk coverage at Business Insurance's inaugural Cyber Risk Summit in the nation's capital.

Another panelist, Mark Camillo, head of network security and privacy products-Americas at American International Group Inc., said that early cyber policies were largely designed to address concerns about liability for spreading viruses or service disruptions.

“If you really break it down today, what you've really got is a focus on privacy, primarily,” said Mr. Beeson, with most policies in the market designed to respond to costs associated with data breaches and violations of individuals' privacy.

But there are efforts to craft policies that will fill other cyber-related gaps in buyers' property and liability insurance programs, Mr. Camillo and Mr. Beeson said, with coverage evolving to cover such exposures as network interruption, cloud service provider failure or physical damage related to a cyber event.

“I think the industry as a whole has been very good about responding to client needs and introducing product enhancements,” Mr. Camillo said.

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Going forward, “I think the discussion that's going to be had is looking at cyber more as a peril than anything else,” said Ron Beiderman, assistant vice president for commercial casualty at Insurance Services Office Inc., a Verisk Analytics Inc. company in Jersey City, New Jersey. “There's a lot of discussion that still needs to be had on that.”

Even if organizations don't ultimately purchase cyber insurance, the process of looking at available coverage and how it might respond to their exposures is worthwhile, said Mr. Beeson. “It's one of the best ways you can bring different stakeholders together,” he said. “Going through that exercise, you're going to improve your cyber posture just by doing that.”

Business Insurance Senior Editor Judy Greenwald moderated the panel.