Cyber Insurance Blogs

The cost of dealing with data breaches is beyond strengthening security procedures, repairing databases, or replacing lost laptops. Traditional business insurance is not enough to protect companies from cyber-crime. But do you wonder how does cyber insurance works?

Cybercrime is one of the most frequent types of crime, and yet it is not given the attention it requires. Individuals and businesses are susceptible to cybercrime. 2020 made conditions worse as companies had to work remotely without sufficient security measures.

India saw a 65% rise in cybercrime cases filed in 2020. Various small, medium and large-scale enterprises get affected by such crimes. To recoup the losses and expenses incurred while facing a cyberattack, it is wise to get cyber insurance.

The cyber security insurance process works like any other form of insurance. Cyber insurance is provided by many insurers who also provide other forms of business insurance, such as property insurance, errors and omission insurance, and liability insurance. Cyber insurance policies often include first-party coverage, which means losses that impact an organization, and third-party coverage, which means losses incurred by other organizations due to business relations with affected enterprises.

A cyber insurance plan helps an enterprise to pay for any financial losses that incur in the event of a data breach or a cyberattack. It also helps them cover the costs of legal services, investigation, crisis communication, and refunds to the customers.

Cybersecurity insurance typically includes first-party coverage of losses due to hacking, data extortion, data destruction, and data theft. The main areas covered by cyber insurance include:

1. Data Recovery

Cyber insurance usually enables the business to pay for the recovery of data compromised by a cyberattack.

2. Recovering personal identities

A cyber liability insurance policy helps an organization restore the personal identities of affected customers. Theft of personal identities is one of the scariest things that can happen to any individual. A stolen identity can help a criminal check into a hotel in London, United Kingdom while you are actually in Mumbai, India.

3. Customer notifications

Enterprises are required to notify their customers of a data breach, especially if it involves theft or loss of personally identifiable information(PII). Cyber insurance helps businesses cover the cost of this process.

4. System damage repair

The policy covers the cost of repairing computer systems and servers damaged by a cyberattack. It does not cover the cost of data recovery. It is important to read the fine print in each case.

5. Ransom Demands

Cyber insurance can help enterprises to cover the cost of meeting extortion/data ransom demands of the compromised data. A lot of times, computation of this amount is difficult. In case intellectual property or competitive trade secrets are lost – identifying the amount to be reimbursed is tough. The amount spent in building this IP or competitive advantage is difficult to calculate and you may or may not get the full amount you believe the Insurance company must give.

Pricing the cyber risk depends on the organization’s revenue and operating industry. To qualify for insurance, the insurer will carry out a security audit. The information gathered from the audit will guide the type of policy the insurance company can offer and the cost of premiums.

Policies vary between different insurance companies. Therefore, it is best to visit Elephant.in and compare policies to ensure required provisions and protection are covered by the policy.

You need to know that cyber insurance is a policy that helps you in protecting companies that experience financial losses due to cybercrimes, including data breaches,  network damage, etc. In simple terms, cyber fraud insurance transfers some of the financial risks of a security breach to the insurer. But now you must be wondering what cybercrime insurance is, then you must know that it doesn’t do a fantastic job of protecting the reputation damage and business downturn which is triggered because of a security breach. 


One thing is for sure cyber fraud insurance does reduce some of the financial damage which you suffer in an attack, but it’s not an excellent solution.

Some things you must know about insurance against cybercrime:

• It is not preventive directly- Some of the most expensive lessons in risk management a business can get are the hacks because the cost of a data breach surely burns a hole in one’s pocket. The prices mainly include lawsuits, recovery efforts, foregone revenue because reputation is lost, etc. All these costs are covered under Cybersecurity insurance, but you need to know that they don’t prevent them from being incurred. Hence one thing here is for sure cybersecurity isn’t passive insurance that can be bought from any company or consultant. It is nothing but a practice of constant vigilance. Tight security and acceptable practices can prevent you from getting hacked as insurance doesn’t cover all breach costs. 
• It is a risk management strategy- The insurance mainly covers damage to digital assets, business interruptions, etc., under first-party claims, while under third party insurance covers liability and forensic investigations costs, etc. The cost governance is quite broad, and it is one of the best approaches to both identify and secure the digital crown jewels of the company.
• Exact wording plays a crucial role- No matter what field you are in, you must know that transparency is the key to success, and the same goes for cybercrime insurance.  By now, you know what cybercrime insurance is, so before you buy one, you must ensure that you understand the risks that are covered under existing insurance policies because they might overlap with the existing policy. 
• In some areas, the coverage is not enough- You must know that cybersecurity doesn’t do any justice when it comes to covering intellectual property theft or the reputational damage which is mainly caused due to a security breach. Hence before choosing any policy, you must be clear about the areas they cover.
• There is no standard policy- You need to know that there is no standard policy for insurance against cybercrime because policies are mainly custom collections of modern coverage terms and premiums and payouts vary from company to company or on various factors, including data risks and exposures. Hence it would be best if you bought a policy that meets your needs instead of your budget.

All rule you need to know is that cost of cybersecurity insurance is your business risk too. 

The insurance policies have been working as a saviour to cover up the losses suffered due to distinct rationales. Insurance policies work on a principle that, if the damage of an asset is endured, the victim is liable to cover up the damage with the help of insurance. With the upswing in the number of crimes recorded, it has been crucial to modify the cybercrime insurance policies to ensure maximum valid returns. The boost up in the technical facets has raised the number of cybercrimes as well.

The smartest crimes are executed through cyber and are born to earn a sum on a large scale. Working with insurance can help retain the monetary and informative loss in the IT networks. Opting for a cyber-insurance policy empowers assistance when faced with any stature damage or regulatory enforcement. When dealing with cyber fraud, the stakes fall into two categories, first-party threats, and third-party threats. A cyber fraud insurance policy is capable to cover up either of these or both types of risks.

The first-party risks are the ones when a business suffers the loss of its assets. First-party insurance will cover the loss of the business’s properties.

The damage or loss to digital possessions including databases or software programs falls under this category.
Cyber exhortation cases where the third party threatens to cause deterioration or data release in case of untimely monetary payment also fall under first-party insurance.
Intruding the business or causing damage to the business in the network downtime.
The data breaching results in hampering the reputation of the company along with the loss of diligent property or valuable customers.
Monetary theft including digital assets or equipment theft comprising electronic theft also falls under first-party insurance.
The expenses are spent on notifying the consumer regarding any privacy breach. The notification can be a legal or regulatory requirement in case of any security or data breach.

The third-party risks deals with the risks of others. Here, the word others refer to the customers benefiting from the services of the company.

The privacy breach affects the consumer data stored in the company’s system. The security breaches, investigation costs, and other sophisticated damages correlated to them can be covered through third-party insurance.
Cybercrime may lead to loss of third-party data of the consumer incorporating the payments, compensations, records of service providing, denial entrance, downfall in the software systems, etc. All these losses can be covered by third party insurance.
The detriment to cover the investigation charges, defence expenditures, and civil ravages that arise from slander, secrecy breaching or ignorance in publishing through electronic printing medium falls under third-party insurance.

Being pre-equipped with a cybercrime insurance policy can aid to conceal all the losses and damages caused to the company and the valuable data related it. Even a minute leak in the consumer or company data results in a great penalty. Applying for insurance can be a king-term protection plan for company data. Cybercrimes are one of the most complex crimes to reimburse the loss suffered. In conclusion, preferring an insurance policy can save you from untimely damage and its relative expenses.

Cybercrime is very rampant these days. Daily, news reports are coming off more and more crime, fraud, and theft relating to information on the internet. In case, if you are new to cyber insurance, this implies protecting the individual or the company financially against cyber-attacks such as Phishing, Identity Theft, ID Theft, Email Spoofing, etc.

It has gained immense importance in recent years, due to the proliferation of hackers, cyber thieves, etc. One of the most common types of cyber fraud is in the field of internet banking. Banking customers often get phishing emails, from fake websites, which resemble original banking sites. Then customers are prompted to enter their username and password, which gives hackers access to the bank account, and consequently, crores of money is swindled by them.

In order to counter this, banks have started an information campaign. This, however, is applicable at the individual level. At the organizational level, many firms are opting for Cyber Fraud Insurance. Using this technique, the firm is insured against cyber fraud, by using the services of world-class experts. Now, let us list the advantages of cyber insurance, which have made it so popular. 

1. The gap between the current requirements and traditional coverage is greatly reduced

It has been observed that traditional insurance, which is done for commercial liability, is applicable for risk, which comes out of a tangible property, which implies the server, on which data is stored. Conventional policies do not cover the first-party breach costs for notification. This results in a huge gap in the organization’s digital assets coverage, which exposes them to the full costs of an event leading to loss of data. Consequently, cyber insurance is designed to fulfill this gap and act as insurance against cybercrime. To put it into simpler language, cyber insurance provides coverage for:

• Loss of data.
• Costs of remedy to respond to a breach of data.
• Legal penalties and fines and regulations.

2. Covering the expenses of a data breach

Data breaches are very difficult to estimate and make a budget. The scope, size, and complexity of data breaches vary tremendously. Breach of information is very expensive, due to very strict requirements for notification, the chances of fines from different regulatory authorities, specialized monitoring for medical identity and recovery services.

It has been observed that cyber insurance assists individuals cope with unwarranted expenses, and handle some of the costs associated with loss of data. The most common form of loss of data consists of Forensic Investigation, Fees for litigation, All types of communication ( Call Centers, Notification Letters, Regulatory Services ), Data Analysis, Monitoring of Identity ( Credit Monitoring ), Public Relations, Services related to identity restoration, Legal Settlements and Regulatory Fines.

3. Delivering resources for responding to a data breach

In case, there is a loss of data or a very staggering data breach, there are plenty of carriers that offer a panel of approved vendors. This consists of a lawyer, who gives guidance to the insured with the help of the breach response process.