AIG offers SME protection against "hacktivists" with new cyber product by Caitlin Morrison

17/09/2014 07:52

AIG has launched a cyber product for SMEs in conjunction with broker Sutcliffe & Co and IASME Consortium to support the government’s Cyber Essentials Scheme.

The scheme is aimed at encouraging all businesses to build cyber security into their companies by focusing on five critical security controls.

Provided SMEs can demonstrate that they have reached certain technical control requirements by passing IASME’s self assessment, they are entitled to the new AIG product.

The insurer listed that the policy includes, among other things, cover for meeting the costs of notifying customers of an attack and of offering two years' credit monitoring to customers whose personal data may have been stolen, paying fines and penalties if insurable under law, and meeting costs of PR to restore reputational damage.

Hacktivists
Raheila Nazir, cyber, TMT manager for the UK at AIG, commented: “Often smaller organisations are seen as a back door entry to large organisations by hacktivists, which is why strict contractual obligations are often stipulated.

“If an organisation can demonstrate they have assessed such risks and taken steps to mitigate them they can stay ahead of the sophisticated nature of cyber attacks which will reassure the organisations they want to do business with.”

Duncan Sutcliffe, director of Sutcliffe & Co, added: “Cyber threat is not around the corner, it is already here, we are the ones that need to catch up.

“I think the combination of assurance with insurance will go a long way to improving the safety and resilience of SMEs in this country."

Source:https://www.insuranceage.co.uk/insurance-age/news/2367528/aig-offers-sme-protection-against-hacktivists-with-new-cyber-product