“The threat is real and the risk needs attention.”

Operating a business in the 21^st century is more challenging than ever, the risks are far more complex than ever before. The business exposures to hacking, malware and viruses are more prevalent than ever before and from a range of outside parties, which includes organised crime and foreign governments. Cyber Insurance for business is a cover developed for this ever changing risk. Your virus protections on your computer network will not cover the financial losses if the system gets captured by malware or ransomware. A broad policy is the best option to protect your business.

The rise of the risk in information technology has been occurring for more than 20 years, and the insurance industry has kept pace as well it could, to the exposures faced by businesses worldwide. No longer is the outbreak of a computer virus something that is treated as an annoyance by business, now businesses face the real possibility that information is taken ransom and/or stolen, then sold to the highest bidder.

Unlike most other risks of a catastrophic nature such as fire earthquake or professional negligence claim, where professionals do not hesitate to buy insurance, Cyber Insurance is different. Acuity have partnered with Solution Underwriting to offer to professionals a policy which covers not only the third party liabilities but also the first party losses i.e. the costs of the incident occurring that have been traditionally borne by the business such as reinstating systems and retrieving data.

Backed by Chubb Insurance Limited, both Solution Underwriting and Acuity have produced a product for the SME sector and offer this online via a premium indication and electronic proposal form.

Wherever information about individuals, or businesses, and their confidential dealings are kept, criminals from all over the world are looking for ways to infiltrate, and steal this information for profit. Acuity has discussed this issue with legal practitioners of all sizes and experiences and the single most common attitude that emerges is that of “it won’t happen to me”. Despite this, international and national firms in Australia have suffered attacks and loss of services for extended periods of time which have been very costly in terms of costs to fix and in terms of lost time and opportunity. These issues have not always been kept quiet, having been part of international attacks across a range of companies.
The changes to privacy legislation and the requirements for reporting breaches will focus business leader’s minds on the subject of protection and consequently insurance where the protections fail.

Every business insures against fire and other disasters as a matter of course due the potentially catastrophic nature of one occurring to the business. The nature of Cyber risk is not that different from fire and other perils traditionally insured. Protections can be put in place but a simple error a member of staff can unleash a cyber-attack costing thousands or tens of thousands on a business. The question is not whether the firm should spend the money buying insurance but can the firm afford not to? Should its protections fail and the worst occur.

We have prepared using information gathered from insurers a document that provides a range of scenarios and costs.

A price indication can be obtained by answering some basic details about the firm. If you wish to obtain a firm quotation please compete the proposal form here: