Comments
As an old adage goes, a life insurance agent will stalk you to heaven to hawk his product. For now, he is covering the cyber space.
The US-based Federal Insurance Co, part of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, has tied up with HDFC ERGO to introduce a product that will cover cyber crimes in India. Chubb launched its cyber security insurance policy globally in 2009.
“The service was launched in Asia in 2010 and we hope to bring it to India this year,” Mr Noel Tan, Regional Manager, Chubb Specialty Insurance, Southeast Asia, Middle East and India, told Business Line .
Cyber insurance has become critical in the wake of attacks such as the recent one on the Sony PlayStation network, which exposed the personal data of around 77 million users and led to at least 40 lawsuits being filed in the US.
Waiting for clearance
He said the company had applied to regulators in India and was awaiting approvals to offer its services. Asked if Chubb would target any specific industry, he said, “Cyber insurance is something that all businesses and industries across segments can identify with.”
All companies, from SMEs to MNCs, were part of the Internet and susceptible to cyber risks.
Though cyber breaches are nothing new, many companies still do not pay adequate attention to the problem. A study this year by global professional services company Towers Watson found that of 164 companies based in North America that participated in the survey, 73 per cent had not bought a network security policy.
Covering hacking losses
Mr Tan said individuals were, however, paying more attention of late to cyber insurance, because of the increasing risks involved. “Earlier, cyber breaches cost people a few million dollars, but these days they cost multiple millions of dollars, ” he pointed out. Cyber insurance would cover the loss arising from business interruption due to hacking, he said. He, however, pointed out that the company will have to choose correctly while selling this product. “There is good risk and bad risk. We have to pick the right risk.”
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.