Cyber Crime Insurance

Cyber attacks are fast becoming one of the greatest risks faced by Australian businesses. It is easy to think these cyber criminals will mainly target large businesses, however, research has shown that small to medium sized businesses have become the main target for data breaches as many have lower security measures in place, making it easier for these cyber criminals to hack into. Some of the techniques they use include:

• Unauthorised access or hacking - when someone gains access to your computer or device without permission,
• Malware - malicious software (such as viruses, trojans and spyware) which monitors your online activity and causes damage to the computer,
• Denial of service attacks - an attempt to make a computer and/or network resource unavailable to its intended users, such as to temporarily or indefinitely interrupt or suspend services. A distributed denial-of-service is where the attack source is more than one, often thousands of, unique IP addresses. Think of a group of people, crowding the entry door to a shop/business, and not letting workers enter into the shop/business, disrupting normal operations

These disruptions can wreak havoc, making Cyber Insurance now an absolute must. Here are just a few of the benefits:

• Most cyber attacks are not covered by standard business or crime insurance policies even though cyber attacks are the fastest growing crime in the world
• A cyber policy can provide comprehensive cover for data restoration and rectification in the event that data is damaged or lost
• Cyber crime has the ability to disrupt day to day business and Cyber Insurance can provide cover for these potential loss of profits
• You can be held liable for privacy breaches if third party data is lost; this can be covered under a cyber policy
• Cyber coverage can assist in recovering costs associated with a data breach should a portable device be lost, stolen or the subject of a virus