Cover Story
the top 3 countries that are vulnerable
to cyberattacks and breaches and India
is among the largest and fastest growing
adopters of internet usage, smartphones,
IoT, etc. The quantum and value of
personal, financial and health information
makes India one of the most vulnerable
to exploitation by cybercriminals,” he
points out.
EARLY ADOPTERS
Arjun Bhaskaran also says while BFSI,
IT/ITES and telecom are early adopters
by virtue of having mission-critical
IT applications and high levels of IT
maturity, industries like healthcare,
education, retail, and hospitality are
equally important even though they are
low on IT maturity. “In fact, because of
their lower IT maturity and lower internal
IT and Cybersecurity capabilities, they are
more eager to adopt cyber Insurance,”
says he.
Sasikumar Adidamu of Bajaj Allianz
General Insurance says the earliest
adopters of cyber insurance are the BFSI
and IT/ITES sectors, the former due to
large exposure and the latter often due to
contractual requirements. “This changed
with time and these two sectors have
adopted cyber insurance rapidly. With
time, the manufacturing and hospitality
sectors too are catching up. We are seeing
a spike in the number of enquiries after
any major incident and while number of
conversions are going up, the gestation
period still remains a few months and the
conversion rate is still low,” says he.
COVER AGAINST CRIMES
According to Anurag Rastogi of HDFC
ERGO General Insurance, cyber insurance
has become crucial for all companies,
irrespective of their size. “Sectors and
industries that have exhaustive data
repositories like BFSI, eWallet service
providers, eCommerce portals, telecom,
technology companies and pharma/
healthcare are the major adopters of
corporate cyber insurance. We have
also seen inquiries from manufacturing,
infrastructure and other sectors. Having
said that, BFSI remains the major buyer
of cyber insurance,” says he.
He says the usual covers under
corporate cyber insurance include covers
such as losses arising from eTheft,
eCommunication, eThreats, business
interruption and others. The policies also
cover third-party suits against the insured
for disclosure, reputational conduct and
content related liability claims. Forensic
experts’ cost, notification costs in case
of data breach, the cost for regulatory
response and rewards expenses also gets
covered under the policy.
HDFC ERGO offers cyber insurance
cover for both individuals and corporates.
Its flaship E@Secure insurance policy
covers an individual from major cyber
risks such as unauthorized online
transactions made on an individual’s
bank account/debit or credit card by
a third party for purchases over the
internet. In addition, it covers the damage
caused to an individual’s reputation in
case a third-party publishes any harmful
information on the internet. Further,
the policy provides necessary legal
protection against the costs of pursuing
and defending legal actions and provides
a special feature of extending the cyber
cover to the individual’s family, coveringtheir spouse and two dependent children
with no age limit.
The company has been offering
corporate cyber insurance cover since
2012 covering threats of cyber exposures
associated with eBusiness, internet,
networks and information assets. The
policy essentially covers financial losses due
to data theft, fraudulent communication,
eVandalism and unauthorized transfer of
funds/property. In addition, it covers the
cost of hiring a professional negotiator and
public relations consultant, if required.
However, it does not cover for losses in case
the company is found guilty of violating the
laws or in the case of mechanical failure.
It introduced E@Secure for individuals
in 2018, which covers loss or damage
arising directly due to one’s activities over t
the internet.
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
offers insurance cover to safeguard
against cybercrimes like cyber extortion
and cyber attacks that can possibly affect
an organization or individual. Its Cyber
Protect, a digital business and data
protection insurance for companies,
typically covers privacy and data breach,
business interruption, hacker theft, cyber
extortion, crisis communication and
consultant services. “Any company or
corporate irrespective of its industry can
opt for this policy. Coverage inclusions
under cyber insurance for corporates may
vary with each industry, says Sasikumar
Adidamu.
Again, the company’s ‘Bajaj Allianz
Individual Cyber Safe Policy’ covers
financial loss resulting from being an
innocent victim of email spoofing and
phishing, losses and expenses related to
defense and prosecution cost related to
identity theft, IT theft loss, restoration
cost to retrieve or reinstalled data or
computer program damaged by entry of
malware. It also provides coverage for
expenses incurred on counselling services
treatment, claim for damages against third
party for privacy breach and data breach,
cyber extortion loss and transportation
for attending court summons.BUYING A COVER
What are the key factors to be consideredSasikumar Adidamu reveals
nowadays even SMEs, startups
and smaller businesses inquire
about cyber insurance unlike
in the earlier days