Are you an international company with a subsidiary in Germany needing cyber insurance cover?
Here’s a breakdown of how a German cyber insurance policy might cover a policyholder:
- Financial Loss Coverage: Cyber insurance in Germany usually provides coverage for financial losses incurred due to cyber incidents. This may include losses resulting from business interruption, data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.
- Data Breach Response: In the event of a data breach, the insurance policy may cover expenses related to investigating the breach, notifying affected individuals, providing credit monitoring services, and managing public relations and reputational damage.
- Cyber Extortion Coverage: Many cyber insurance policies include coverage for cyber extortion attempts such as ransomware attacks. This coverage may help policyholders pay ransom demands, cover expenses related to negotiating with cybercriminals, and mitigate the impact of the extortion attempt.
- Forensic Investigations: Cyber insurance policies often cover the costs of forensic investigations to determine the cause and extent of a cyber incident. This includes hiring cybersecurity experts to assess the damage, identify vulnerabilities, and implement remediation measures.
- Legal and Regulatory Expenses: Policyholders may receive coverage for legal expenses incurred as a result of cyber incidents, including costs associated with regulatory investigations, fines, and legal defense.
- Cyber Liability Coverage: Cyber insurance policies in Germany typically include coverage for third-party liability claims arising from cyber incidents. This includes claims related to data breaches, privacy violations, intellectual property theft, and other cyber-related damages.
- Crisis Management Services: Some cyber insurance policies offer access to crisis management services to help policyholders respond effectively to cyber incidents. This may include assistance with incident response planning, communication strategies, and coordination with law enforcement and regulatory authorities.
- Business Interruption Coverage: Cyber insurance policies may cover financial losses resulting from business interruption caused by cyber incidents. This includes lost revenue, extra expenses incurred to minimize disruption, and other costs associated with restoring business operations.
- Reputation Management: Insurance coverage may extend to reputation management services to help policyholders rebuild trust and mitigate reputational damage following a cyber incident. This may include public relations support, social media monitoring, and communication strategies to maintain customer confidence.
We advise you to work closely with an insurance broker and cybersecurity professionals who can help you assess your cyber risk exposure and tailor your insurance coverage to adequately protect your assets and mitigate potential losses.
Some examples of the most common cyber attacks and how to prevent them in time.
THE MAIL BOMB
In this case, thousands of emails are sent to one email address like a bomb attack. This causes the attacked company’s mail communication to be significantly delayed or the mail server is overloaded and emails can no longer be processed.
Avoidance strategy:
Change the email server configuration. Email service providers can configure their servers to detect and block anomalies in email traffic.
Quick response in the event of damage:
Contact the cyber insurance emergency team to limit the damage caused.
DOS ATTACK
Here, a flood of requests or data packets are sent to an addressee in order to paralyze their network.
Avoidance strategy:
Use services from providers that offer specialized DDoS protection solutions. Use IDS/IPS systems to detect and block suspicious or malicious traffic in a timely manner. Implement bandwidth management systems to control traffic and prevent bottlenecks.
Develop escalation plans and emergency measures with your cyber insurance security experts so that you can react quickly in the event of a DDoS attack.
DATA MISUSE
The hacker gains access to a company’s database. Here, customers‘ bank details are collected and collected, a ransom is demanded or all of the company’s data is simply deleted.
Avoidance strategy:
Encrypt sensitive data in transit and at rest.
Make your employees aware of phishing attacks and social engineering tactics (emails from supposed friends or business partners).
Make regular security updates and conduct internal audits to identify potential anomalies or unusual activities.
Quick response in the event of damage:
Contact the cyber insurance forensic experts so that they can draw up an immediate emergency plan and, if necessary, settle the ransom demand.
DIGITAL BLACKMAIL
Using malware (e.g. Trojans), the hacker gains access to a company’s data and encrypts it. This is followed by a ransom demand to retrieve the data with the threat of publishing sensitive customer data.
Avoidance strategy:
Firewall and anti-virus protection, quick response in the event of damage, strict security guidelines. There’s not much more you can do because even large corporations are being blackmailed. In 2023 these were, among others, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hamburg Airport, Verivox and Stadtwerke Karlsruhe.
Professional support from a cyber cover in the event of damage:
Choose a tariff that also includes benefits in the event of digital blackmail whereby forensic experts draw up an emergency plan and the insurer pays the ransom as well as the reputational damage suffered.
Please contact us and get the information you need.