Cyber Attack Insurance Looking Ready For The UK
Cyber-attacks are becoming more and more of a threat as the world becomes more dependent on technology for our communications and business ventures. Add-on insurance policies have already been made available in France by Axa in an attempt to clean up private information and photographs posted online by hackers.
Individuals and businesses alike may soon be able to purchase insurance in the UK that protects and helps them deal with the damage that can be caused by computer hackers. Senior insurance executive Nicolas Moreau said: “The insurance policy, which is sold as an add-on to house insurance, was intended to clean up private images posted online rather than hide information that has been legitimately published.”
Mr Moreau added: “If your reputation has been damages, or your kids’ reputation, we have people to clean up the issue. The aim is not to remove news articles but private information that has been made public. We are not looking at dictators trying to improve their reputations.”
There hasn’t been a timescale presented for when this insurance will be available because it needs to be implemented correctly and these processes can take a while. According to Moreau, cyber-attacks on infrastructures such as energy suppliers, payment systems or the stock exchange could be as devastating as ‘bombing a city’. A number of firms will actually hire computer hackers to test their own online security measures.
James Savery, 29 January 2015