Recently, services at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, were affected for over 10 days because of a ransomware attack.
- According to government data, there were 674,021 cyberattacks till June 2022, which translated to around 3,700 attacks a day.
- According to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), there was a 51% increase in ransomware attacks in the first half of 2022.
- The rise in cyberattacks against institutions appears not to have led to a concomitant increase in demand for cyber insurance policies.
About cyber insurance
- Cyber insurance is a type of insurance cover that protects individuals as well as organisations against the implications of cyber attacks.
- It covers the insured against the financial loss due to the cyber-breach.
- It also covers the expenses related to data recovery, privacy investigations, regulatory actions and litigation.
- There are different types of cyber-threats that one could be exposed to ranging from phishing to spyware, and even ransomware and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. A comprehensive cyber-insurance policy covers all such cyber-assaults.
- Comprehensive plans of this kind cover everything ranging from malware, phishing and cyber extortion to identity theft, cyberstalking, and data and privacy breach by third-party.
- They cover financial fraud.
- A cyber insurance policy covers the online loss of money not only from bank accounts and credit cards but also from payment wallets.
- Cyber-assaults related to cryptocurrency are not covered under any cyber-insurance plan.
- If the attack happens when the insured is accessing restricted sites, such events are also excluded from coverage.
- Apart from covering the policyholder against financial loss and litigation expenses, some of these policies even cover the cost of restoring the insured’s computer if it is damaged due to malware.
