SBI General Insurance (SBIG) has introduced a new cyber insurance product called 'Cyber Defence Insurance' for businesses protection from the growing threat of cyber breaches. The product offers both first- and third-party coverage benefits including coverage options for contingent business interruption, system failure, reputational loss, multimedia liability and computer crime.

While the Cyber Defence Insurance is initially looking to target SMEs and mid-market businesses, it will also gradually cater to large business corporations. With this offering, SBIG enters a crowded Indian cyber insurance market with TATA AIG, HDFC Ergo, ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Allianz and New India Assurance being the major players.

Cyber incidences have been ranked as one of the top business risks in India for 2019 in Allianz Risk Barometer 2019 survey results. This has reportedly led to the Indian cyber insurance market seeing a big upswing in the last 18 months according to insurance broking and risk management firm Marsh. In fact, around 325-350 standalone cyber insurance policies have been sold during this period with a gross underwritten premium of around $12m.

“Cyber insurance is an emerging sector for increasing resilience among businesses. Businesses need to move towards cyber resilience combining security measures and risk management,” said SBIG head of underwriting and reinsurance Subramanyam B.

SBIG’S Cyber Defence Insurance comes with a cloud-based tool for commercial cyber polices named CyRUSS (Cyber Risk Underwriting & Solution Suite) which will be unique to SBIG. The tool includes risk assessment, ongoing risk management and claims management.

As part of the product offering, SBIG will provide customers with a regular crisis response service and immediate support in the event of a cyber attack. The crisis response service seeks to enable efficient management of cyber events and provides IT forensic investigations, legal advice, reputational and public relations management.