Dhipaya, Cisco cover financial cyber-risks

Dhipaya, Cisco cover financial cyber-risks

Mr Somporn, left, and Mr Taveewat emphasise the growing need for cyber-risk protection.
Mr Somporn, left, and Mr Taveewat emphasise the growing need for cyber-risk protection.

Dhipaya Insurance has joined hands with US-based technology firm Cisco Systems to offer a cyber-insurance policy designed to cover financial losses related to cyber-attacks.

Dubbed "TIP cyber guard plus powered by Cisco", the product targets small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with annual revenues of US$30 million or about 900 million baht.

This is the first time cybersecurity insurance is being offered to SMEs in Thailand. TIP has offered cyber-insurance to large firms for three years, said Somporn Suebthawilkul, TIP's managing director.

"Cybersecurity incidents have intensified and attacks have spread from large companies to enterprises of all sizes, even small ones," he said.

According to ThaiCERT, 1,474 cybersecurity incidents were reported during the first half of 2020. Most of these cases were malicious code reports, which accounted for 36%. There were 72 reports of intrusion attempts, accounting for 4.9%.

With ever-increasing cyberthreats, firms are placing greater emphasis on cybersecurity.

Taveewat Chantarasena, interim country manager for Thailand and Indochina at Cisco, said the new normal and mobile working trends have increased cybersecurity risks with greater reliance on cloud and remote networks adding to firms' vulnerabilities.

The insurance plan provides coverage against losses caused by cyber-attacks and protects organisations from cyberthreats.

Annual insurance premiums start at 34,000 baht for coverage of 750,000 baht and up to 341,000 baht for maximum protection of 30 million baht. The preliminary rate before risk assessment varies by customers' annual revenue.

Cisco's security professionals will help check clients systems, assess risks and advise on choosing the right cyber-insurance policy.

The customers' risk level will be rated on a 1-9 scale, into four groups from A to D, where the standard premium will apply. A discount will be offered for A to C category customers at a maximum of 20%.

Mr Taveewat said customers can provide information for a preliminary assessment online and a deep assessment will take about a month.

The cybersecurity insurance policy covers liability for third-parties such as failure to safeguard confidential data, unauthorised access to corporate networks, extortion related to systems or data, threats to disclose confidential data, blackmailing (as covered by insurance policy), online media liability and errors in disseminating content.

The policy also covers business interruption losses caused by security breaches, data recovery costs due to cyber-attacks, costs related to incident report and investigation, a 24/7 multilingual helpline, costs for mitigating harm to clients' reputation and managing communications during crises.

Mr Somporn said the firm does not have a target revenue for this product yet as it is a part of corporate social responsibility.

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