Cyber Insurance Demand In China Soars After Ransomware Attack

WannaCry Ransomware attack is lurking around for the past few years, this year it broke out massively and damaged hundred thousands of companies globally. After the attack apart from securing the systems and networks companies are now looking for alternative solutions that could cover their damages due to such cyber-attacks. In this row firms in China and Asia are more inclined towards cyber insurance, the demand for cyber insurance in Chinese and Asian firms is soaring, American International Group (AIG) has said that in a statement according to Reuters.

AIG is one of the largest US based multinational insurance group with more than 88 million customers around the globe covering 130 countries. The large insurer witnessed 87 percent increase in queries related to cyber protection insurance policies in May comparing the previous month in China including Hong Kong, this was due to global threat of WannaCry Ransomware attack, while there was 38 percent increase in global queries related to the same issue, which suggests Chinese firms are more conscious about protection from cyber-attacks and demand for cyber insurance is increasing unprecedentedly.

The head of AIG business in China Cynthia Sze said, “The big jump means the firms are aware that they really need protection.” However, AIG representatives declined to comment on the number of inquiries regarding policies and the actual number of policy sales in this row.

The latest WannaCry was literally shocking, it infected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries becomes worrisome for companies around the world.

How to protect systems from WannaCry ransomware attack

A cyber insurance policy can protect companies from attacks like ransomware, the policy can cover the investigation costs as well as pay the ransom on behalf of companies. Hong Kong is dominated by small and medium firms, therefore the threat is greater there because the companies have limited resources, Sze added.

According to the statistics, the global insurance market is valued at $2 billion out of which 30% of medium and large companies are purchasing cyber insurance policies, AIG said. AIG also witnessed the annual growth of 20 to 25% in cyber insurance policies globally during the last 3 years. The annual dent in the global economy by hackers is reached to $400 billion in 2015 said Jason Kelly, AIG’s head of liabilities and financial lines for China, Australia and South Korea.