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You Can Now Get Insurance For Your Money Against Growing Ransomware Threats. Here's How.

A dedicated cyber insurance market is developing rapidly.
welcomia via Getty Images

Reforms such as demonetisation and introduction of a singular indirect tax called Goods and Service Tax have pole-vaulted digitisation of the financial economy in India, which has the second largest Internet user base in the world exceeding 355 million, as per the latest Mary Meeker Global Internet Trends report.

This figure could exponentially grow considering that the current users are a small set of the existing population. Digital technology permeating further would leave many vulnerable.

Events during the past year too have demonstrated the cyber risks we are exposed to on the digital landscape. Around 6.5 million Indian debit cards were compromised recently in one of the biggest security breach in the country with 641 customers of 19 banks reporting frauds worth Rs 1.3 crore.

In other instances, WannyCry ransomware attack demanded bitcoins to release the grip on systems across 150 countries. Card cloning, phishing, denial of service, malware, merchant fraud, identity theft etc are being used at different levels leading to losses and a protection plan insuring these losses is better held in your armoury in the digital age.

Cyber insurance

"A dedicated cyber insurance market is developing rapidly with an increasing number of insurers looking to write more business in this specialty line. But some significant cyber-related risks remain largely uninsured and the scale of cover is modest compared with firms' overall exposures," as per a report titled Cyber: getting to grips with a complex risk recently released by reinsurer Swiss Re.

Steps to claim

Call to block all cards with one call

Fill claim form

Attach the First Information Report (FIR) filed with the police

Investigation by insurer

Disbursal of money upon verification

Apart from using the solutions such as M-Kavach and USB Pratirodh for mobile and desktop security offered by Cyber Swacchata Kendra, a part of the government's Digital India initiative, there are insurance products available along with your cards and bank accounts or available separately for purchase.

Two offerings of mobile, banking fraud and wallet insurance are available in the country for annual subscription from OneAssist and CPP India.

These companies offer a one call facility to block all your registered cards if you sniff a fraud resulting from loss/theft, skimming, counterfeiting, online usage, phishing and PIN based fraud. Over and above, SIM blocking facility for lost phone, fraud protection cover insuring between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh from 15-30 days prior to the reporting of any loss is provided if there have been instances of skimming, phishing, PIN leak, online or ATM-related frauds.

An add-on facility of emergency cash within India or abroad upto select limits is offered, apart from emergency hotel, ticket bookings, if you lose your wallet or cards while travelling. The amount and hassle involved in getting non-financial cards and documents such as passport, PAN card, driving license too is borne by the service providers under the plan.

The membership fee of these products ranges between Rs 1,299 and Rs 2,499 based on the plan selected. This fee is refundable upto 100% is cancelled within 30 days and 50% if done between 31 and 180 days, provided one hasn't used the services and isn't satisfied.

OneAssist offers a mobile wallet protection under its premium plan, which extends from 3-days prior to reporting of loss and post-reporting loss. The F-Secure Internet Security from CPP offers protection while surfing, shopping, banking and using social media on your laptop or PC. Net-banking, e-commerce transactions are protected by an additional layer of security with the Banking Protection feature.

However, OneAssist states that the fraud protection doesn't cover the loss occurring due to hacking of internet banking account and frauds therein. Only card related frauds are covered.

If you are looking for frauds linked to identity theft, ATM assault or robbery, apart from fraudulent charges made on cards then TATA AIG General Insurance offers an insurance cover for these individually or as a comprehensive package. Note that frauds only 12 hours prior to reporting are covered under the Tata AIG Plan and ATM robbery within the short duration of 15 minutes post transaction is insured.

If bank or insurer finds any negligence on your part then the claim may be declined and hence safety provisions are to be adopted by the card holders. Experts suggest that we follow these cyber safety guidelines to keep frauds at bay:

  • Type bank web address instead of using links in email or other websites
  • Use strong passwords
  • Never share CVV and card expiry date
  • Install and Update anti-virus
  • Enable multi-layer security features or two-facto-authentication
  • Avoid opening links and attachments from unknown source
  • Set alerts for bank transactions and keep constant track
  • Avoid sharing passwords and other information over unknown calls
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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.