Schalk Van Der Merwe is a Director of Omnisure Insurance and the winner of Elite Broker by Insurance Business in 2018. As an expert of insurance, Schalk explains the reality of cyber attacks, why we need to think about these sort of attacks, and how we can protect ourselves and our businesses.
What areas does Omnisure practice in?What makes Omnisure different?
Our attention to detail. Our business model is not transactional and is based on a deeper understanding of a particular business' exposures and designing a tailored solution to meet those exposures. Given our broad client base and experience across many industries we also find we are well versed in the unique exposures any given industry faces. We have:
Cyber insurance is a suite of covers built into one annual policy to comprehensively protect a business' online and network exposures.
The most common coverage features are:
Don’t equate small with safe….
Essentially, all businesses regardless of industry should consider cyber insurance.
Businesses that are at particular risk:
We get this question a lot from clients, it’s a tough one to answer as there is no revenue band or business size where cyber insurance then becomes relevant. Every business has an exposure and unfortunately given the recent statistics it seems as though its just a matter of when not if anymore.
How prevalent are cyber attacks?Cyber attacks are becoming more and more prevalent, with research showing an excess of 20% of Australian businesses have suffered some sort of cyber event or cyber crime in the last five years.
What does a cyber attack cost a business owner?The average cost of a cyber attack in Australia is $276,000, which most small businesses don’t have lying around. However, the damage to the reputation and the ongoing stress of dealing with a large scale data breach or cyber attack can be more costly.
Tell us about a time where having cyber insurance saved a business ownerProfile: Property developer
Background: Following the sale of two properties, our client was required to make a payment of $400,000 to their property consultant. On the day the payment was due, our client received an email from the consultant advising that their banking details had changed. Our client requested that this be sent to them in writing on the consultant’s letterhead including the signature of the director of the consultancy company which our client received. Our client was later chased by the actual consultant for the payment at which time it was discovered that the email and letter had been fraudulent. Our client contacted their bank to stop the payment but the money had already been withdrawn and transferred overseas.
Outcome: Our client made a claim on their Cyber Policy which triggered the optional Social Engineering cover. It appointed an IT forensic consultant who identified that the hacker had infiltrated the consultant's system and intercepted correspondence between our client and the consultancy firm. Our client was reimbursed for the outstanding funds (capped at the Social Engineering sub limit of $250,000).
Payment: $250,000.
What are three tips to spot online scams / attacks?Its not as expensive as you think! $100,000 of coverage depending on your industry / revenue starts at $200 (excluding charges).