Technology is playing a bigger role in families lives. This exposes them to inherent cyber risks that they haven’t faced before...
Technology touches everything we do. It improves the way we communicate, collaborate, and transact.
As a result, our lives have shifted online, especially since the advent of smart phones. Many of the daily tasks we used to do offline – banking, shopping and even socialising – we now do online. Data shows just how integral the online environment is to us. According to statistics*, 88 per cent of the Australian population, or 22.3 million people, use the internet.
Our dependence on the internet, and the exponential growth of web-enabled devices and social media, has had the effect of making us so much more interconnected. In fact, a whopping 18 million of us~, or 71 per cent of the population, use social media. But technology also creates new risks. It provides fertile ground for criminal activity and antisocial behaviour.
Research backs this up. From 1 July 2019 to September 2019 this year the ACSC’s cybercrime reporting tool, ReportCyber, received almost 14,000 reports^. That’s an average of around 148 reports a day, or one cybercrime report every 10 minutes. Over this time, individuals and small to medium businesses self-reported financial losses to ReportCyber of more than $890,000 each day, representing an estimated annual loss of approximately $328 million~.
So what is Cybercrime?
Cybercrime involves the use of computers or
other digital devices to perpetrate an offence.
It includes:
- Identity theft
- Online scams
- Cyberbullying
- Financial fraud
Key features of Personal Cyber Insurance?
This product includes cover for the impacts
of cyber events and cybercrimes such as:
- Hacking
- Malware
- Viruses
- Cyber espionage
- Denial of service attacks
- Cyber theft
- Identity theft
- Cyberbullying
- Cyberstalking
- Cyber harassment
Claims Case Studies.
Identity theft.
Claim scenario:
Daniel received an email on his computer allegedly from a popular social media platform stating he needed to verify his account by clicking on the provided link.
Daniel clicked on the link, and a couple of days later he was unable to log in to his social media accounts.
As it turns out, Daniel had downloaded malware onto his computer that allowed a cybercriminal to steal Daniels’ personal information and identity.
Cyber event protection solution:
Provides cover for cyber event response costs to remove the virus, restore data, and secure the home IT. The policy would also provide identity theft response costs to help the policyholder re-establish their identity and essential records. If Daniel had to take time off work to rectify his personal records and lost wages as a result, he could be entitled to wage replacement benefits as part of his claim.
Cyberbullying.
Claim scenario:
Jess just started high school. Within the first few weeks, she became a victim of bullying. It started out as a few comments, however quickly escalated to repeated harsh and vile comments on all of her social media profiles.
The online bullying had a significant impact on Jess and led to her not wanting to go to school and a deterioration in her grades.
Cyber event protection solution:
Provides cover for a policyholder and their spouse to attend critical guidance sessions if their child is subjected to cyber bullying. In this case, these sessions would help Jess’s family work through this ordeal and better deal with any future instances of cyberbullying.
The policy would also cover the costs to try to remove the hurtful comments.
The policy would also provide a wage replacement benefit if the parents have to take unpaid time off work to attend guidance sessions or to meet with the school or other authorities to deal with the incident.
PROTECT YOUR FAMILY WITH A PERSONAL CYBER POLICY TODAY.
We draw your attention to our FSG which provides you with further information on our services.
*Australian Internet Statistics, 2020, Prosperity Media
~Ibid
^Cybercrime in Australia July to September 2019, 2019, Australia Cyber
