More criminals are accessing data and personal information and demanding money or threatening to sell the information. According to the October 2018 Consumer Cyber Insurance and Security Spotlight Survey: Most of us are connected in one way or another. Personal cyber insurance can help if you become a victim of cyber crime.
What is Personal Cyber Crime Insurance?
Personal cyber crime insurance is an emerging insurance product for individuals that helps compensate you and members of your household for losses resulting from certain cyber attacks, or if you are a victim of cyber crime. It also may provide assistance in recovering from a cyber attack. Cyber Crime Insurance may also be referred to as:
Personal Cyber Risk InsuranceInternet Crime InsurancePersonal Cyber InsuranceCyber Protection Insurance
What Does Personal Cyber Crime Insurance Cover?
Every cyber crime policy or coverage may be different. To understand cyber insurance coverage, always ask what the coverage or risks covered are, and what the conditions and exclusions are. There is no real standard for how insurance companies are covering internet crime right now, so it is important to ask.
7 Things Cyber Insurance May Cover
Here is a list of some cyber crimes that are covered on some of the cyber insurance products available today. A policy may offer only a few of these coverages or all of them. You can use this list to ask questions and understand your options when shopping for personal cyber risk coverage.
Internet or Cyber Crime Insurance may be available as:
Stand-alone cybersecurity coverage (usually for businesses) Coverage provided as part of package policies, such as in a high-value home policy
Does Home Insurance Cover Internet or Cyber Crime?
Not all home insurance covers cyber crime. In fact, according to the Insurance Information Institute, more than 4 out of 5 people with connected devices either lack coverage or don’t know if they are covered. A big part of this is because the type of coverage you may or may not have varies by insurance company. There is no “standard offering” in home insurance and there are companies that don’t cover it at all. For standard home insurance companies, cyber risk and cyber crime coverages are not usually included, but the concept is becoming more popular, so more insurance companies may start to offer the coverage as an endorsement to your policy. To know if you are covered, ask your insurance company what is included in your policy. If you do not have coverage, ask if they have a product or endorsement to cover you. Use the list above, 7 Things Cyber Insurance May Cover, to ask your insurance company what’s covered, or use it as a checklist when you are shopping for cyber coverage as part of a home insurance policy.
Who Needs Cyber Protection Insurance?
Tech is a growing part of our daily lives. Anyone connected to the internet or using connected devices should consider cyber insurance. The increasing ways we connect online open us up to cyber crime on many levels.
Is Identity Theft Insurance and Cyber Crime Insurance the Same Thing?
No, Identity theft is a type of cyber crime, but it is not the only kind of cyber crime. There are many forms of computer crime. Identity theft coverage is very specific and is often included in insurance offerings, but none of the other items in our list are normally included in an identity theft protection.
Top States With Cyber Crime Statistics
If you wonder if cyber crime is really an issue, here is some information on how much cyber crime is being reported across the country, from the Internet Crime Complaint Center’s 2020 stats on the number of victims per state.
California: 69,541Florida: 53,793Texas: 38,640New York: 34,505Illinois: 20,185Pennsylvania: 18,636Washington: 17,229Nevada: 16,110New Jersey: 14,829Maryland: 14,804
How Much Does Personal Cyber Insurance Cost?
The cost of cyber insurance for individuals varies depending on what is covered and how you get it. In some cases, it comes with certain home insurance policies or as extra insurance policies for high-value clients. Burns and Wilcox is one company that offers such a product. Chubb and AIG are two other high-value home insurers who currently offer comprehensive cyber protection insurance coverage. According to AON’s Cyber Market Update Report, 192 insurers in the United States reported writing cyber insurance in 2019 (this includes business products). Although coverage is not as readily available now through all insurers, the number of insurers offering it for individuals is likely to grow as this type of crime continues to evolve, and leaves both businesses and people at risk and needing protection.
