What is Cyber Insurance?

Hackers. These are not just dodgy movie characters but real life people, doing real damage to businesses across the globe, including South Africa. If you’re thinking your small business down under is of no interest to these criminals, think again. Every business with an online presence is at risk of a cyber attack and with South Africa having the third-highest number of cybercrime victims worldwide it might be time to bite the bullet and get the right cover for your business.

Cyber insurance is designed to help protect you from claims and support your profitability in the event of a cyber breach or attack. Costs associated with defending a cyber claim are also covered.  Examples of the types of risks Cyber insurance can assist with are inadvertent loss or release of customer personal information, cyber crime, cyber extortion/ransomware and business interruption due to a cyber event.

In a nutshell, your customer data is sacred. If you don’t protect it properly, your business may be fed to the wolves.

If you’re still not convinced your business may be at risk, here are the cold hard facts about doing business in today’s technically advanced world:

• Cyber crime costs South African businesses R2.2 billion annually – yet it remains one of the least insured policy areas.
• South Africa experience on average 577 attempted attacks per hour.
• Card-not-present (CNP) fraud on South African-issued credit cards is the leading contributor to gross fraud losses in the country, making up 79.5% of all losses