The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian company has partnered with a UK-based cyber technology insurance broker to offer this product to local businesses.

Cyril Peet, Star General Insurance’s business development executive, while speaking with Tribune Business yesterday at the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) cyber security symposium, said cyber attacks are a “growing concern”.

“Anyone with a database is exposed to having that interrupted. If you lose something and you want to retrieve it, how do you do that?” he said.

“Insurance is just about the business of transferring risk from one party to the other. As a company that assists people in doing risk assessments, and making sure they can protect their business and personal assets, this is just another way of bringing services to the people.”

Mr Peet added: “We see it as a growing concern. We don’t know how widespread it is because no one is eager to talk about it. We are partnering with Safeonline, and FTI Consultants out of the US, to help us bring solutions to the market as it relates to cyber insurance.

“We want the business community to be aware that this service is now available on island.”

Geoff Kinsella, a partner  and chief operating officer with the Lloyds of London broker, Safeonline, which specialises in the provision of technology and cyber insurances, said employees are the biggest cause of data breaches.

“That’s not because they are vicious or they are in any way corrupt, but it’s just that people are people and make mistakes,” said Mr Kinsella.

“We see people leaving their iPhones on trains, leaving their laptops and going online and doing what they do at home in their company environment.  The training of employees, and education of employees, is very important from a corporation’s point of view.”

Speaking on the need for cyber insurance, Mr Kinsella said: “Cyber insurance also covers your business for your own first party costs, and losses if you have an incident.

“If you are relying on a  network or your systems to actually do your business, and it goes down for some reason, the insurance policy will cover that down time for you - and loss of income you have - while your systems are down.”