Friday, June 14, 2019

From the P&C Files: ProActive CyberCover

A few weeks ago, we blogged on active shooter insurance cover:

"Beyond the obvious (wrongful death and medical and funeral expenses), there's counseling, biohazard cleanup, and destruction of property; in some cases, relocation and rebuilding expenses might also come into play."

And of course the list went on.

An active shooter in the workplace is obviously a deadly physical threat, but there are other attacks that can wreak significant damage (and also threaten lives). I recently received an email from an outfit called JGS Insurance, which offers what looks to be pretty comprehensive cybercrime coverage.

Um, what the heck is "cybercrime," Henry?

Well, Techopedia defines it as:

"[A] crime in which a computer is the object of the crime (hacking, phishing, spamming) or is used as a tool to commit an offense (child pornography, hate crimes). Cybercriminals may use computer technology to access personal information, business trade secrets or use the internet for exploitative or malicious purposes."

This is a fairly broad brush, but seems to pretty much sum up the phenomenon.

So, back to that "cyber warfare" coverage.

The JGS program identifies two specific parties:

First Party coverage includes response and other immediate costs, including legal and regulatory, as well as unauthorized funds transfer, plus system damage and even business interruption.

Third Party coverage would be for risks like network security and privacy liability (think of all the various database breeches we hear about, with personal and credit card info being stolen), media liability and even technology errors and omissions.

Yikes.

Something I really appreciated was this checklist of why businesses ought to be considering this type of plan:
• Cyber crime is the fastest growing crime in the world, but most attacks are not covered by standard property or crime insurance policies.
• Systems are critical to operating your day to day business but their downtime is not covered by standard business interruption insurance.
• Data is one of your most important assets yet it is not covered by standard property insurance policies.
And quite a few others, including penalties for loss or theft of data and the compliance costs of notifying those affected.

Scary, but interesting, and worth considering.

Oh!

They also point out that it's "it's not just big businesses being targeted by hackers, but lots of small ones, too."

Indeed.
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