In the wake of the rising risk of cyber-attacks, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has asked insurance (non-life) companies to launch individual cover. It has recommended companies to widen the scope of their existing cyber risk policies.
COVID-19 and the necessity to digitize business operations and processes brought on a dramatic acceleration of criticality and attack surfaces. It mercilessly showed the bandwidth of threats and how these may be exploited. The FBI reported a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes in April 2020. In March alone, ransomware attacks increased by 148%. Furthermore, between February and April 2020, phishing was up 600% and in April, Google blocked more than 18 million COVID-19 related phishing mails each day.
The regulator’s working group believes there is no need for a standardized product due to the evolving nature of the legislation. It has come up with a model policy wording for personal cyber insurance cover. IRDAI has urged companies to develop cyber risk cover for individuals at the earliest. It noted that the focus of such covers introduced by insurance companies has been on businesses, although…
