A cyber-attack can leave an organisation vulnerable to disruption, loss of revenue and regulatory penalties along with damage to reputation and a loss of trust among its customers and stakeholders.
The uptake of cyber risk insurance products has increased significantly as insurers respond to market demand for urgent and effective solutions to cyber events. We work with leading cyber risk insurers to develop cyber risk insurance products and we ensure cyber claims are assessed quickly while insureds, brokers and underwriters stay informed and protected.
We assist our clients to prepare business continuity, disaster recovery, and cyber security plans to mitigate the impact of security breaches and to help comply with legislation. We have developed an online cyber claims notification model backed by strong expert panels, and act for many underwriters as notification agents.
We respond to actual or suspected unauthorised data access and other cyber security events, often in response to ransomware. To manage these matters, we work with professionals, including forensic technology specialists and public relations consultancies, as well as coordinate with law enforcement authorities where necessary. We are experienced in seeking and obtaining urgent court orders in the event of actual or threatened data security incidents.
We operate a breach notification 'hotline' and a reporting portal that can be adapted to our insurer clients' specific facilities. We have particular experience responding to cyber events involving lawyers and accountants insured under group policies, predominantly payment redirection attacks and ransomware.
Examples of our work include:
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Acting as panel first responder and 'breach coach' on instructions from cyber risk insurers, including as Australian contact for London-based insurers requiring a local and immediate presence.
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Acting in multiple ransomware attacks, including an instance where ransom was paid under controlled circumstances.
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Advising a national real estate agency as a result of an employee opening malware. We immediately concluded that the insuring clause was triggered, rejected any possible exclusions and engaged a trusted IT security services provider to take the necessary measures to restore necessary data and rebuild from backups.
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Acting on instructions of an insurer of an IT company specialising in electronic document, data and drawing management. The company’s database was hacked and significant data was downloaded, causing corruption to other data. We took immediate steps, together with specialist IT consultants and a PR consulting firm, to assess the nature of the damage and prepare a response to the company’s clients.
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Advising a broker and insured on cover under a cyber claim following unlawful access by a former employee to commercially sensitive information held by a company on its network.