
Active Assailant Risk: Data Demands to Underwrite a Deadly Peril
From The Political Risk Podcast by David Benyon
March 26, 2026 · 47 min · Season 1 · Episode 65
About this episode
This episode explores the rise of active assailant risk and the demand for data-driven underwriting in the context of crisis management and political violence insurance.
A special episode exploring the rise of active assailant risk and the growing demand for data-driven underwriting in a rapidly evolving threat landscape. Joshua Watson, senior underwriter, war and terrorism, North America, at Markel International, joins Gamze Tekin, senior product owner at Concirrus, to examine how this peril has moved to the forefront of crisis management and political violence insurance. The discussion explores what makes active assailant risk distinct, from its frequency characteristics to its human and financial impact. Active assailant is a peril on the rise, with protection gaps facing corporate buyers, near-daily incidents taking place, and changing US state regulation on workplace violence. Conversation turns to the underwriting challenges for a peril that is far removed from physical damage focus of most PV perils. Additional challenges include managing aggregation and portfolio exposure, and the limits of traditional data when assessing fast-moving, unpredictable threats. The final section focuses on closing the data gap, from real-time risk visibility to AI-enabled underwriting tools designed to support better decision-making in complex scenarios. With…
People in this episode
Host: Gamze Tekin
Guest: Joshua Watson
Topics covered
- active assailant risk
- data-driven underwriting
- crisis management
- political violence insurance
- underwriting challenges
- real-time risk visibility
- AI-enabled tools
Keywords
- active assailant
- underwriting
- crisis management
- political violence
- insurance
- data gap
- risk visibility
- portfolio exposure
- workplace violence
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Markel International, Concirrus
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