Beazley, a data breach response and cyber liability risk insurer in the Lloyd's market, has partnered with the corporate insurance partner unit of Munich Re, a reinsurer, to offer protection for the digital assets and IT infrastructure of large companies.

The companies said in a statement that coverage options were developed in close collaboration with a number of large companies and their brokers. Cover will be tailored specifically to the exposures of individual clients, providing up to $100 million or €100 million of protection for a wide range of cyber risks. Based on the individual needs of clients, coverage can be tailored to include elements for risks such as:

- Hacking or malware attacks. Such attacks have been growing steadily in scale and frequency. In the U.S. alone, 193.5 million customer records have been stolen in large breaches involving more than 10 million records apiece in the past two years.

- Distributed denial of service (“DDoS”) attacks. Half of all major US companies sustained a denial of service attack to their websites last year and more than 10 percent of these attacks interrupted the companies' web-based service capabilities. The potential for significant business interruption losses from a successful DDoS attack is high.

- Cyber extortion. So-called ransomware attacks have recently intensified. Those that have been disclosed have generally been small in scale. But the potential undoubtedly exists for far larger cyber extortion attempts.

- Property damage and bodily injury exposures deriving from malicious cyber attacks. The impact of an attack on the smooth functioning of plant and machinery and the safety of employees, with the increasing interconnectivity of systems, is becoming more and more severe.

Adrian Cox, the head of specialty lines at Beazley, said, “The London insurance market is a crucible for innovation in cyber insurance. I am delighted that we have been able to build on our strong relationship with Munich Re to expand the coverage available for this prototypical 21st century risk.”

Chris Storer of Munich Re said, “In recent years, cyber threats have risen steadily up the agenda of the world's largest companies as they have observed the real impact of cyber incidents, with significant implications for their balance sheet and financing capabilities, through to dealing with regulators and rating agencies.” He added, “Through our close partnership with Beazley and the combining of our expertise, we believe that we can offer a service that is unique in providing large corporate and industrial clients with fit for purpose cyber solutions that help them manage the manifold risks that cyber attacks can present.”