AIG extends cyber cover to include physical risks

AIG today extended its cyber insurance product, CyberEdge PC, to include property damage and bodily injury exposures for commercial clients.

The insurer aims to help its clients mitigate physical risks to operations from cyber attacks and failures in response to a growing number of incidents and threats of cyber attacks directed at commercial industries.

These threats and incidents can lead to equipment failure, physical damage to property and physical harm to people, according to Tracie Grella, global head of professional liability at AIG.

She said: “Cyber risk goes well beyond data privacy concerns covered by stand-alone cyber insurance offerings prevalent in the market.

“The physical risk of a cyber attack or cyber event to property and people is very real and it can now be specifically and unambiguously addressed with expanded cyber insurance coverage that dovetails with existing insurance.”

The product addresses coverage gaps in property, casualty, energy, aerospace, marine, environmental, healthcare, and financial lines policies, where cyber-related exposures may be excluded or coverage too limited says AIG.

Furthermore, the expanded cyber offering supports the US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. Released in early 2014, the framework is designed to help companies in critical infrastructure industries strengthen cyber risk management programs to protect information and physical assets from cyber attack.