The COVID-19 pandemic has seen cyber risks emerge as being among the biggest threats to both business and individuals, with even the federal government falling victim last month.
According to David Coe (pictured), broker and managing director at Northwest Insurance, located in the regional town of Bundaberg in Queensland, the pandemic has seen interest in cyber insurance soar.
“Certainly, cyber insurance has become an emerging trend throughout the pandemic,” he said. “Obviously with COVID-19, a lot of us have had to adapt to many changes and, in some cases, completely change the way we do business.
“Right now, even the Australian government is spending a lot of money on cyber defences. The importance of cyber security is becoming more and more apparent and, now we’ve had COVID-19, the attacks on small businesses trying to steal identities, money or engage in extortion has just doubled and tripled. It’s a huge issue and we need to be addressing it from an insurance perspective.
“I’m from Bundaberg and my own IT person told me he’s dealing with one or two hacks per week - and that’s in our little town of Bundaberg with local, small businesses. So, it really is on the rise and it’s only getting worse and worse.”
Read more: "We still have some work to do"
Coe believes that with increased risk comes increased responsibility for brokers, who should always endeavour to educate clients on the online risks they face.
Read more: “Brokers need to protect themselves first”
“I certainly think it should be brought to clients’ attention by any broker,” he said. “It’s just another piece of protection that the client’s got to have because it’s been pushed to the forefront at the moment due to the high rise of cyberattacks in the Australian community.”
The primary way in which Coe sells cyber insurance is through business packs, where he believes he can deliver the most quality.
“I normally sell it through a business pack contact,” he said. “So, if we’re actually doing a business pack you sit down and go through the different sections, and we will highlight things like management liability, cyber insurance, and so on.”
Coe, who first entered the broking industry in 1995 after 15 years’ experience as an insurer, says his priority for the rest of 2020 is “weathering the storm.”
“I will make sure we’re in a better position for 2021,” he said. “I’ve spoken to many colleagues who can’t wait for 2021 to get here and I just think we need to weather the storm, continue to liaise with our staff, make sure they’re OK, make sure they’re not becoming over-stressed and over-burdened with what’s going on, talk to our customers regularly and just ensure that our communication with all parties – including our underwriters – is very fluent and we all get this through together.”
