Cyber-Leak Coverage Offered

Insurance coverage for technology firms against data breaches that leak personal information under their control is now available from The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., the company said.

The firm said it is adding first-party data privacy expense coverage with cyber-extortion expense coverage to its FailSafe suite of technology liability coverages as an endorsement to the FailSafe GIGA and FailSafe TERA policies.

The Hartford Financial noted that many states require companies to pay for notification and credit monitoring services for those affected by a breach and said a breach involving just 500 records could mean a cost exceeding $100,000.

Specific components of the new coverage, the company said, may include:

o Notification expenses incurred to comply with notification laws.

o Crisis management expenses incurred for fees and costs associated with hiring a crisis management firm to perform services that minimize potential harm and maintain or restore confidence in the policyholder.

o Data privacy regulatory and credit monitoring expenses incurred in connection with a statutory mandate requiring credit monitoring for third parties in compliance with data privacy laws, legal expenses in defense of a data privacy regulation proceeding, and certain fines or penalties, where insurable, in connection with a data privacy regulation proceeding.

o Cyber-investigation expenses incurred to have a third party investigate the policyholder's computer system to determine the source of a data privacy breach.