Beware of cyber gaps

For the past several years, insurance-industry speakers at Timeshare Board Members Association meetings have been urging attendees to buy cyber insurance to protect their resort or enterprise against data breaches, hacking, ransomware, and other computer-related misbehavior. As these events become more common and complex, so does the choice of insurance coverage to protect against them.

“Cyber, property, crime and general liability policies may all come into play for a cyber-related event,†writes Katie Dwyer in a recent Risk & Insurance article.

Cyber policies typically don’t cover bodily injury or damage to physical property. Moreover, as “Internet of Things†mishaps due to network failures have become more common, a majority of property insurers have excluded such cyber-related events. To fill this gap, your agent should work with an insurer to create coverage for specific situations that otherwise wouldn’t be covered.

Also make sure that somebody is covering extortion, fraudulent requests for transferring funds, sabotage, theft, and other kinds of “social engineering†attacks, and the financial impact of business interruption.

The solution to closing such cyber gaps may be a separate endorsement that ties together multiple policies, sorts out the order in which they pay for a loss, and possibly eliminates duplicate coverage for certain events. Ask your agent to explore this concept.