With the advent of Internet of Things, data is one of the most important assets in the world yet its not covered by standard property insurance policies.

Therefore any interruption to an organisation’s systems means an interruption to firms to conduct their core businesses. Data protection should therefore be at the center of every organisation to avoid a hack attack or computer virus or in case a malicious employee brings down these systems.

But where can one find cover for business interruption during such attacks? In 2016 alone, Kenya lost about Sh18 billion ($175 million) to cybercrime with over 48.4 per cent of all government agencies reporting data loss due to a virus attack according to an ICT security survey conducted by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics & Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

The report adds that 5.1% of businesses and 7.1% of State institutions are hacked annually, and that while most businesses were eager to download antivirus software, only 15 percent had systems to detect intruders.

Innovative insurance products are therefore needed to provide cover against attacks, eliminate exposure to Cyber risk and even protect third party data or data users.

Cyber Enterprise Solutions, a product from Aon Kenya, is that cover of the future. Unlike traditional policies, the policy is designed to cover property damage arising out of a network security breach; data exposure, business interruption and systems failure compensation. The policy also covers cyber terrorism and any other liabilities caused by an attack.

AON says the cyber risk solution is a response to the growing cyber criminality threatening both corporates and SMEs targeted by hackers with ransomware. Aon Cyber Enterprise Solution provides insurance cover for loss of profits associated with systems outage that might be caused by a “non-physical” threat like a computer virus.