AEGIS-PwC partner to offer breakthrough cyber coverage

Lloyd’s syndicate AEGIS London has launched what it claims is the first cyber insurance product to offer property damage, bodily injury, environmental pollution and cyber terrorism wrapped around existing policies.

The product, CyberResilience+, has been developed, the company said, as it believes the threat from nation states, such as Iran and North Korea, will grow to match that of Russia and China while criminal groups will continue to target payment cards and healthcare records.

Rick Welsh, head of Cyber at AEGIS London, said: “We know that networks and systems are being targeted in critical industries. Cyber and physical assets are continuously being compromised yet until now, insurers globally have not been able to provide the cohesive or holistic protection required.”

Welsh added: “AEGIS London is the first insurer globally to unify re/insurance capital and cybersecurity expertise to provide the type of insurance solution that industry and regulators expect from the Lloyd’s of London specialty market.”

The company said it expects the threat posed by activists to be eclipsed by cyber attacks perpetrated by groups linked with areas of geopolitical tension, such as the former USSR or contested regions, such as the South China Sea. It expects that organisations will be caught-up in the fallout of hybrid warfare – facing both physical and cyber attacks.

Joe Hancock, cyber security specialist at AEGIS London, said: “Cyber attacks are the new normal. It is not enough to say ‘it won’t affect us’, ‘it wasn’t patchable’ or that an attack just wasn’t detected – businesses and systems now need to be resilient against the attacks that will occur.”

Hancock added: “These attacks are now increasingly destructive as we have seen with the recent attack on Sony Entertainment. This trend is likely to continue, highlighting the need to respond to incidents rapidly.”

To deliver what are highly specialised services, AEGIS London has partnered with PwC, which will provide incident response and forensic services for CyberResilience+ policyholders.

James Rashleigh, PwC forensics director specialising in cyber incident response, said:

“Time is critical if your network has been breached. Businesses that suspect they have suffered a breach need to be able to act quickly and decisively to contain the issue and limit the damage.

“Our global footprint means that whether we need to deploy a team in London, or get boots on the ground in 15 countries, we have an unparalleled network we can mobilise rapidly. We have the cutting-edge skills and technology partnerships to handle even the most complex of incidents.”