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AIG Is Now Selling Cyber Insurance, But Only To High Net Worth Individuals (securityledger.com)
chicksdaddy writes from a report via Security Ledger: It turns out that the rich really aren't like everyone else -- they have more cyber insurance. That, after insurance giant AIG announced Monday that it has started offering cyber insurance to protect individuals and families from ransomware attacks, data theft and cyber bullying, The Security Ledger reports. But don't go looking to sign up at Wal-Mart: the service is only available to AIG's Private Client Group, which caters to high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals and families. The service is the first of its kind to provide what insurers call "first party coverage" -- basically: insurance to make the affected party whole after an adverse incident. In a sign of the times, AIG said it will pay for things like school relocation for children traumatized by cyber bullying and ransom to cyber criminals in the hope of restoring data and technology held hostage by crypto-ransomware. Private Client Group customers must have real estate or other assets like boats or art with a value of more than $1 million, said Jerry Hourihan, president of AIG's Private Client Group for the U.S. and Canada. Hourihan said that the new service is based on similar insurance that AIG offers to businesses and is a response to inquiries and demands from its high net worth clients, who have become increasingly concerned about cyber threats, he said. The insurance would be purchased as a so-called "rider" to a traditional home insurance policy and add about 10% or 15% to the annual premium. It's not a big stretch for AIG because it turns out there's not much daylight between really well off families and businesses. "Our clients have domestic employees and family offices to help manage their lives. They take on quasi commercial exposure," Hourihan said. There are no immediate plans to offer similar protections to families of ordinary means, despite a recent survey by the firm Accenture that found as many as 1 in 4 Americans has been the victim of data theft. (https://securityledger.com/2017/02/silent-epidemic-data-theft-has-become-a-public-health-crisis-digital-guardian/)
The reason this insurance is only for the rich : it is prohibitively expensive.
For someone who has more than $1M in assets, insurance is already expensive, and so they can easily scare people with cyber horror stories into paying 10-15% more. After all, they are rich, they can pay. The "exclusive" stuff is a marketing tactic to make these rich customers feel special, and maybe more targeted, and more ready to pay.
But it is a much harder sell on average people. The risk is comparable, attacks are usually indiscriminate, and ransomware ask for a fixed sum. So it means that if you have a more typical home insurance, it could double the premium before the insurance company can expect a profit. And they probably judged that the average person won't pay.
It it turns out that normal people also want to get ripped off like the rich, they will arrange it.