Even as a cyber attack left Pune- based Cosmos Bank taking a ₹94-crore hit, insurers believe that protection against cyber crimes is the next big emerging area for risk management.
Not just the banking and financial services sector, but firms in manufacturing and pharmaceuticals sectors are also taking insurance against cyber crimes.
“At the moment, BFSI is largely taking cyber crime insurance but other industries are also looking at it. People think that if they have a transactional IT platform they need cyber insurance. That’s not true. If you are IT dependent or if you have heavy IT interaction, you need cyber protection,” said Prabodh B Thakkar, Chairman, Global Insurance Brokers.
Protects against...
Apart from fraudulent transactions, cyber insurance also provides protection against security breaches, website defacement, business interruption risk, even if a company is found to be non-compliant with privacy laws.
Banks are working to ensure that such breaches do not happen and large and mid-size lenders have protection against such risks.
According to Thakkar, more Indian companies are enquiring about and buying cyber insurance. “We are projecting that like D&O policies, every corporate will go for cyber crime insurance,” he told BusinessLine.
Global Insurance Brokers was until last year Aon Global Insurance Brokers. It bought out the 26 per cent equity of Aon last year after forming a joint venture in 2002.
“Since then, Global Insurance Brokers has invested significantly in technology and increased its manpower,” Thakkar said.
“We have invested big time in technology. We have nearly doubled our employees from 285 to 490,” he said, adding that they have trained 150 graduates with an in-house curriculum.