Cyber insurance: What is first-party and third-party coverage

When you start looking at cyber insurance, you are likely going to encounter discussions of first- and third-party coverage. This is referring to the protection against losses incurred by first- and third-parties as a result of a cyberattack. First-party is all about you. The term refers to all of the losses you suffer directly because of the event. Third-party refers to all of the losses suffered by others as a result of the cyber event which hit your business. Generally, this is going to refer to your clients and others whose data you handled and that was compromised in some fashion as a result of the cyber event.

So, let’s take a high-level look at the risks that fall under first-party losses.

First Party losses – all about you

First-party is all about covering the direct and indirect losses that create economic loss for your business as a result of the criminal cyber event. Let’s start with the immediate consequence to your business from a cyber attack: that is the loss or damage to the electronic data you hold. That can be any electronic data that you possess, including the data of your clients. The compromising of customer data is of special concern when it includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII). PII can identify a specific individual. Examples include full name, address, social security number, birth date, etc. Cyber insurance would generally help you cover the expenses from a data breach only from a specified covered peril such as a DoS, hackers, virus, etc.

However, breaking out all of the first-party losses reveals quite a complex list of expenses. In our next blog, we will give you a breakout of the major expenses that can result from that initial criminal event.

Should I look into cyber insurance?

Among those firms who take risk management seriously, there is a growing awareness of the need to consider some manner of insurance to protect against the costs of cybercrime. Standard commercial property insurance policies do not generally include provisions for the damages from cybercrime. Cybercrime can be thought to include any digital or internet-based attack that compromises you and/or your customers’ data and/or causes disruption to business operations. A non-inclusive list might include Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, phishing scams, adware, ransomware attacks, system/website cloning, viruses, and other malware, and viruses. So what is it that so worries business leaders? In a growing number of commercial policies, cyber events are specifically excluded. The consequences can be serious. Fines and penalties, loss of customer confidence, and liability lawsuits can shut a business down for good, especially smaller businesses that lack the deep pockets to hold out until the worst of the storm passes. Cybercrime creates a large range of potential first- and third-party losses that few businesses can hope to absorb on their own. As a result, executives who recognize the catastrophic damage that a cyberattack can inflict on their business are looking at cyber insurance to transfer the financial losses to a third party.

Because of the severe consequences of cybercrime, businesses are now exploring cyber insurance policies in hopes of protecting themselves against financial ruin. However, these policies represent a bit of a minefield as this is a relatively new and unsettled area of insurance. Insurance firms trying to write policies face a lot of unknowns at this point, which means coverage may differ dramatically between insurers and there may be many areas where you remain exposed to considerable risk. Just two examples to get you thinking. Some policies may create requirements and security standards you must meet before an event will be considered a covered loss.

• How would you handle those requirements internally to keep your company in compliance? And what about ransomware?
• If you had to pay the ransom, would the policy cover that payout?

There are a lot of weeds to get into when looking for a cyber insurance policy and it is important you recognize the complexity of the issues. Cyber insurance has a lot of moving parts. In the meantime, cyber insurance doesn’t absolve you of the ongoing need to be vigilant about network and data security. Contact a managed service provider to learn more about what you can do to keep your business safe.