Since March 2020, business life has changed significantly with remote working, amongst other things and its associated dependence on Technology and consequent increased danger of cyber attacks. Trevor McClintock from ABL Group outlines the issues you may face.

Whilst the pace of change was accelerated by the pandemic, online interactions and digital infrastructures had been and will continue to become an integral part of the new normal because of efficiencies and the new business possibilities and opportunities created.

Unfortunately, these changes have also resulted in a significant growth in cybercrime and the Cyber criminals appear in many cases to be well organised and professional in their approach.

In Northern Ireland, we have seen a spike in activity from hackers, particularly in relation to an increasing number of social engineering type incidents and ransomware attacks on businesses of all types and sizes.

We are also finding that notwithstanding the publicity given to GDPR and the need for effective computer security many organisations are still running redundant servers and operating systems and/or obviously ineffective defences and have still not effectively trained staff.

All this has greatly brought into focus the need for cyber cover for all sizes of business.

There are first and third party coverages provided under most traditional stand-alone cyber policies.

First party coverages may include the following:

Breach response/event management coverage

— Direct breach response costs may include those incurred to engage solicitors, complete a forensic investigation, send notifications to affected individuals, complete identity theft restoration and data reconstruction.

Business/network interruption — Indemnification for loss of income, incurred extra expenses and claims preparation costs that arise directly out of a network security breach or system failure which disables the insured’s network.

Cyber extortion — Covers extortion payments and associated expenses to investigate a security threat to release or refuse to unencrypt sensitive information or bring down a network unless a ransom is paid.

Cyber extortion — Covers extortion payments and associated expenses to investigate a security threat to release or refuse to unencrypt sensitive information or bring down a network unless a ransom is paid.

Social Engineering — Sub-limited coverage may be available for money or securities transferred by an insured to an imposter resulting from the insured’s good faith reliance upon an email or telephone instruction received but purported to be from a legitimate source.

Third party coverages may include the following:

Network security and privacy liability coverage — Coverage for indemnity and defence costs for third party claims and regulatory actions alleging a security failure or privacy event.

Media liability — Coverage for indemnity and defence costs for third party claims alleging media wrongful acts such as defamation, disparagement and copyright/trademark infringement in the dissemination of internet content and media.

The Christmas and New Year Holiday season is upon us however the cyber criminals will be busier than ever.

It is therefore imperative to be alert to potential devastating cyber attacks.

How can we help?