Rising cost of cyber attacks sends insurance policy charges soaring
When Lloyd’s of London found problems in its IT systems in October, the 300-year-old insurance market took some of them offline temporarily, fearing it had suffered a cyber attack. After a thorough investigation, cyber specialists found nothing amiss and life returned to normal after a week or so.
But, even if there had been an attack, Lloyd’s would have been covered — its management has cyber insurance in place to deal with the costs.
It is a form of cover that seems an obvious purchase for an organisation running a global market. However, for other companies, a decision on whether, or how much, cover to buy is a much tougher one — despite the rising profile and costs of ransomware attacks.
“It’s a very unique, stressful situation to have a cyber event, particularly ransomware,” says Paul Bantick, head of global cyber and technology at insurer Beazley. “You want to have people by your side that have done that a lot of times, who know the drill, who can advise you and help you think through your options. If you don’t have someone who can help you with that, it’s a real challenge.”
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Oliver Ralph
