Cyber Insurance — A Much Needed Thing for Bitcoin Sector

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.newsbtc.com/2015/10/17/cyber-insurance-a-much-needed-thing-for-bitcoin-sector/

The number of hacking attacks on various companies, irrespective of their
business have been on a rise across the world. The increasing frequency and
the extent of such attacks have driven the costs of obtaining a cyber
insurance cover upwards. The premium for such insurance policies vary from
business to business, based on the factor of risk associated with them.

Among all the businesses, banking, finance and especially cryptocurrency
based businesses are the worst affected due to drastic increase in rates
and deductibles. Over that, insurers in some cases are also setting a cap
to coverage amount.

What is Cyber Insurance?

Cyber insurance is a product of changing times, these categories are
relatively new in the insurance industry. Cyber insurance products offers
protection to individuals and businesses from any risk/s and losses arising
from the internet or computer and informational technology products.

Why Cyber Insurance?

In today’s world, most of the work happens on electronic computing devices
over the internet. Lot of information and assets are stored in electronic
format on electronic media which are susceptible to unauthorized access by
cyber criminals looking to make a quick buck either by stealing the assets
or information which they can use to blackmail those it belongs to or sell
it to the highest bidder. Any event like that can result in huge losses in
terms of money, credibility, business etc. to the targeted individual or
organization. In case of lawsuits, they may have to pay damages caused to
the clients due to loss of information or assets. Cyber insurance covers
any such costs or damages during such circumstances. There are variety of
cyber insurance policies available. Few insurers offer only first party
coverage, others third party coverage and there are some who offer both.

Cyber Insurance and Bitcoin Industry

Bitcoin industry is one of the industry which is in a dire need of cyber
insurance coverage these days. While there are few bitcoin companies which
are already operating under insurance coverage. For example,BitPay, Xapo,
Circle, Gemini, Coinbase all have their bitcoin assets covered by reputed
insurers. However, there are many smaller exchanges and payment processors
who don’t have such coverage yet due to various reasons. Sometimes it
depends on rules and regulations applicable to certain jurisdictions or the
costs involved in obtaining cyber insurance coverage etc.

Reports of bitcoin platforms coming under attack by hackers has been a
regular occurrence in the past few years. Some of the big players in
today’s bitcoin market like BitPay and Bitstamp have reported hacking
incidents in the past where hackers had stolen millions of dollars in
bitcoin. Last week Purse.io customers also reported loss of few bitcoins,
which was later acknowledged by the company. Most of the times, bitcoins
held by these companies do not belong to them but to their customers and
the company will be responsible for them. In case these bitcoins get stolen
while in company’s possession, the company will be liable to its customers
and will be forced to compensate or make up for their losses. In such
cases, having a cyber insurance comes in handy.

Bitcoin industry has been classified as a high risk sector by insurance
companies. Lloyds’ Emerging Risk Report – 2015 published by Lloyds, the UK
based banking and financial institution states that the risk associated
with bitcoin and bitcoin businesses is here to stay. It also mentions that
bitcoin sector will benefit from insurance and may also help it evolve.

Lloyds is one among a handful of companies that has offered/offering
insurance to bitcoin sector. Others include Bitcoin Financial Group,
Massachusetts Bay Insurance Company, Great American Insurance Groupand more.

While the insurance companies are making a killing out of the absolute
requirement of cyber insurance policies for bitcoin and other financial
operators across the world, they are also exposing themselves to a lot of
risk. However, that should not be the case in the coming years as cyber
security is getting stronger every passing day and bitcoin companies are
constantly learning from others’ mistakes while keeping up with current
industry standards.

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