It’s a cyber insurance policy that protects against multimedia liabilities - not just what’s posted on a client’s company website, but what’s uploaded onto their social media pages.
Pen Underwriting’s new cyber product is touted as “comprehensive” and according to Glenn Woodard, underwriting director, Pen Canada Limited, the multimedia aspect sets their product aside from most others.
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The policy was announced at a time when there’s little uniformity in the market, according to Woodward.
“Right now there isn’t a standardized cyber wording out there, they’re all completely different,” Woodard said.
“Our (policy) covers any media form. If it’s on Facebook or any media, our coverage will respond.”
Additionally, Pen’s policy covers lost or stolen physical documents.
“The biggest thing brokers should know is everyone has an exposure even if they think they don’t, everyone has a computer everyone has paper documents,” Woodward said.
“It’s information that’s valuable to the cyber criminals, or even if you just misplace the information, that’s a potential privacy breach.”
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Those breaches come with responsibilities brokers need to inform their clients of, Woodward advised.
“If you lose paper records, a laptop, a USB drive or if you get hacked you face a potential exposure, you may have to notify people,” Woodward said.
“It’s not just where their building exists, if they’re dealing with the US they have many different laws they have to be concerned about because if you have a breach in California, California laws apply.”
Pen Underwriters said 89% of hacks had espionage or financial motives in 2016 and their policy, offering privacy liability, and a data and payment security assessment among other features, can quote and issue within five minutes.
Hacks are a “newer type of crime” and digital vulnerability is “not a simple exposure by any means” explained Woodward.
“In a lot of cases they’ll hold your servers at ransom and if you don’t come up with the fund that they’re asking for, they’ll take your information and basically shut down your IT,” Woodward said.
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