An experienced broker has announced the launch of a new cyber risk and insurance venture which will help clients understand, transfer and respond to their cyber risk.
The firm, called Cyber Plus, has been launched by experienced broker Mike Newbigin and cyber security expert Paul Waite and will see small businesses able to bundle cyber tools and insurance in a first-of-its-kind for the Australian market.
Small business clients will be able to prepare, protect and respond to cyber breaches with the insurance policy tailored to each individual business with “certain Lloyd’s underwriters” underwriting the policy.
“Rather than selling you an off the shelf product which may or may not meet your needs, we go back to what traditional underwriting was, which is about the risks you actually want to transfer,” Newbigin explained to
Insurance Business.
“We are providing small businesses with a list of what they may be concerned about and asking them to rank those to give us an idea of what they are trying to insure and then saying, based on our understanding, here is what the product looks like for you.”
The firm has partnered with law firms such as Minter Ellison and King & Wood Mallesons, as well as cyber security firms such as BDO and consultants
Deloitte, to bundle both pre and post breach products alongside insurance policies to help mitigate and deal with the aftermath of an attack.
Newbigin, who is a director of Cyber Plus, said that the firm has been monitoring the cyber insurance market for four years and noted that the industry is still “grappling with even understanding what the risks are” in terms of cyber as insurers still lack standardised questions to ask those seeking a policy.
“Sometimes, they do miss the mark on the questions that they need to ask so the insurance industry is still grappling with it,” he explained. “It is still in such a new stage that the language within the policies isn’t even the same, except for the fact that they are all called cyber of some description - that is the only common thing there.”
The technology, which is available as part of the bundle, protects computers, file servers and mail servers from viruses, threats and phishing attacks. Newbigin added that the firm will look to further help clients with staff training, which it is estimated can help reduce cyber risk by up to 80%.
The cyber bundle will be available for sale from September, 2017.
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