Cyber insurance

Cyber insurance is a specialist type of business insurance. It can help cover costs and losses if your business falls victim to a:

• Data breach
• Security failure
• Illegal threat
• Cyber attack

If a cyber attack strikes, it may also help with:

• Additional business expenses
• Data recovery costs
• Public relations costs

The risks include cyber crime, which takes many forms. An employee might click a malicious phishing link, affecting your systems.

A hacker could also target website databases via an SQL injection, or use ransomware to demand large payments.

Digital threats can also come from within your organisation. For instance, an employee may accidentally share sensitive customer data.

Businesses of all sizes face cyber risks. Whether you’re a limited company or a contractor, our cyber insurance could help.

For example cyber insurance coverage could help with risk management if you work online,or if you handle large amounts of information.

Certain professions may have a greater need for this type of insurance. A marketing agency may face legal action after losing client data, or an IT consultant could lose income over ransomware. Cyber attacks can also cause brand and reputational damage to management consultants and accountants.

Hiscox is rated 4.8/5 on Feefo. This comes from real reviews in the past year, with 3650 in total.

Your ideal level of cyber insurance coverage is based on our assessment of your needs.

We look at:

• Your annual turnover
• Your selected options. For instance, if you add optional cyber business interruption cover
• Whether or not your business has a cyber disaster recovery plan
• If you have tested this
• Whether or not your business is Cyber Essentials (external link) accredited

Whatever your situation, you can get £25,000 worth of Crisis Containment cover as standard.

When you get a quote, we’ll tell you the limit of indemnity available to you. This is the maximum amount we could pay to help with a cyber event.

This should ensure you’re not left with insufficient funds if key systems fail, or criminals make ransom demands.

Understanding cyber threats may also help you weigh up business risks. Online cyber training at the Hiscox Risk Academy could help. Cyber policyholders can use this resource for free.

Hiscox cyber insurance cover includes:

• Protection against privacy investigations
• Help to recover your position where there’s reputational damage
• Forensic investigations to aid data recovery, plus legal advice
• Help notifying regulators after an attack
• Repair or replacement of unusable parts if cyber events damage your equipment
• Indemnity for losses incurred if your supplier faces a breach
• Consultancy support
• Liability support if someone alleges you’ve transmitted a virus
• Crime cover including employee dishonesty and loss of assets including money, property or securities
• An optional, customisable business interruption benefit if your turnover is less than £2.5m

We now also offer optional financial crime and fraud cover. It provides protection against:

• Electronic theft of money or securities belonging to you
• Fraudulent use of your electronic identity. For example, someone taking out a credit card in your name

You can also add insurance for income loss. For example, in relation to a data breach or cyber attack.

How this works depends on your business size. For annual turnovers of less than £2.5m, there’s a daily business interruption benefit, with cover for 30 days. If your annual turnover is above £2.5m, we may cover your loss of income or increased costs of working.

We don’t pay for any claims, losses, breaches, privacy investigations or threats due to:

• Provision of professional advice or services
• Breach of intellectual property rights, other than where arising due to a data breach by a third party, a security failure, or any claim under the online liability section
• A hack by a partner or director of yours
• Bodily injury (other than for mental anguish or distress following a claim for defamation or breach of privacy). Or damage to tangible property
• Degradation or deterioration of your computer system
• Use of any outdated or unsupported software or systems
• Anything you knew, or ought reasonably to have known about, before the policy started
• Any acts or omissions you deliberately or recklessly commit, condone or ignore
• Any personal social media posts
• Online liability claims brought by current or former employees
• Any criminal, civil or regulatory fines. Other than PCI charges and regulatory awards where legally insurable

Please refer to the policy documents for the full details of inclusions and exclusions of this cover. Policy documents are available when purchasing online. You can also contact our customer services team for more information.

Hiscox cyber insurance policies are available for businesses in different sectors and industries. We work with firms in:

• Technology
• Professional services
• Accountancy
• Advertising and marketing
• Consultancy
• Recruitment
• Transport
• Manufacturing
• Publishing
• Construction