Media

This section of cover will generally pick up all of the costs involved in responding to a cyber incident in real time, including IT security and forensic specialist support, gaining legal advice in relation to breaches of data security. One of the most important aspects of a cyber policy is that it provides access to the right specialists when time if of the essence as well as paying for their services. This can be the great proportion of the costs of a claim.

This section covers costs incurred in responding to fraudsters attempting to extort money out of an insured by either threatening to carry out a cyber attack or by threatening to expose or destroy data after having already compromised the victim’s network. Ransomware, where the victim’s data is encrypted (converted into an unreadable format) and only made accessible again by the payment of a ransom demand to the attacker, is one of the fastest growing forms of cybercrime.

This cover aims to reimburse loss of profits and increased costs of working as a result of interruption to a business’s operations caused by a cyber event. It works in a very similar way to traditional business interruption insurance except the trigger is a non-physical peril as opposed to a physical one. While third party liability claims tend to be less common in cyber insurance, it is still important to have cover for them under this section. This can help you to maintain good relationships and become a provider trusted for their robustness.

This section covers failure to prevent an individual’s data being breached. Cyber criminals are able to then sell this information on the dark web. With every breached database, more and more credentials, credit card details, passport information etc. appear for sale.

Cover for costs to draft, send and administer notification communications to those whose data has been stolen, misplaced or compromised. The average cost of a stolen or lost record is $148, – Credit monitoring is often also included to ensure those effected are not subject to any fraudulent activity.

This cover will deal with any costs incurred should an individual or organisation take legal action against you over any alleged negligence in relation to your cyber activities. This is particularly important as there are likely to be many claims for compensation for distress following data breaches in the coming years whilst the parameters of this sort of claim are defined.

This is something that is not necessarily considered in the first instance however bad publicity can have a devastating effect on a brand as in the case of the Talk Talk breach where Dido Harding personally faced strong criticism for her response.

This covers any third party claims arising out of defamation or infringement of intellectual property rights. Media cover started out in cyber policies to offer protection in respect of online content only, but as policies have broadened over the years, it’s not uncommon for full media cover to be provided.