Intensifying cyber-attacks prompt major expansion of Beazley’s insurance coverage and services

15/11/2017 07:32

New York, Nov. 14, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Responding to a fast mutating cyber threat that has significantly raised the risks faced by small and mid-sized businesses, specialist insurer Beazley has redesigned its market-leading Beazley Breach Response (BBR) cyber policy.

 

Launched in 2009, BBR rapidly became the coverage of choice for businesses holding large volumes of customer data.  Three years later, Beazley established BBR Services, still the only in-house business unit maintained by an insurer exclusively to help clients manage data breaches. 

 

In the past two years, the hackers’ targets have multiplied, with spear- phishing attacks and ransomware threatening major economic damage to businesses of all kinds.   In particular, business interruption is presenting a major risk as malicious attacks increase. 

 

The new BBR, launched today, covers the universe of cyber risks confronting small and mid-sized businesses, including business interruption, in a streamlined 22 page policy.  Extensive advice on how best to minimize cyber risk is included alongside robust coverage and response services to help clients manage data breaches while maintaining customer confidence.

 

“Cyber-attacks – both targeted and scattergun – are on the rise,” said Mike Donovan, global focus group leader for Beazley’s technology, media and businesses services team.  “No business is immune.  To address these risks, prevention and insurance must go hand in hand.  In the new BBR we have sought to address all the ways – new and old – in which data can be diverted, frozen, held to ransom or lost.

 

“Under the new BBR, our policyholders will also benefit from risk management services provided by Lodestone Security, the specialist advisory firm we established earlier this year to address the unmet cyber security needs of small and mid-sized businesses.”

 

The new BBR policy form includes:

  • a full suite of breach response services, coordinated by BBR Services, to identify the cause and scale of data breaches, alert the affected individuals, and provide credit and identity monitoring;
  • first party coverage for cyber extortion;
  • data recovery costs;
  • business interruption resulting from security breaches and system failures;
  • contingent business interruption from security breaches and system failures occurring at the policyholder’s  vendors and suppliers;  and
  • eCrime coverage for fraudulent instruction, funds transfer and telephone fraud.

In expanding its coverage to address new cyber threats, Beazley has built on the unique policy design that has made BBR a market leading cyber insurance product, including multiple towers of coverage that ensure that breach response costs covered under the policy do not erode clients’ third party limits.

Back