As Covid has taken root in the country in the past two years, so has cyber crime, especially after people started working from home. Cyber security incidents jum 

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A cyber criminal has plenty of entry points to use in order to wreak havoc on your life and finances. Your computers, phones, gaming systems and smart home devices are all potentially susceptible to a cyber attack that might be used to run up fraudulent charges, steal your identity, target your children and block access to your personal information, according to FEMA.

Cyber crime is a growing threat. There are more than 4,000 ransomware attacks every day in the United States since 2016, according to the FBI. That’s a 300% increase since 2015, which averaged 1,000 ransomware attacks per day.

If you are the victim of a cyber crime, you could face financial consequences like extortion demands, expenses to restore a stolen identity, legal fees for lawsuits, and even temporary living expenses due to cyberbullying.

Some of the best home insurance companies now offer personal cyber insurance to help cover some of these risks. Here’s what you need to know.

What Does Personal Cyber Insurance Cover?

Personal cyber insurance, also called “cyberattack insurance,” is often sold as an add-on to homeowners insurance and can cover a range of cyber crimes:

• Cyber attack coverage pays for the removal of a virus or reprogramming of desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi routers and other internet access points, such as smart home devices and security systems.
• Cyberbullying coverage helps you deal with online harassment that results in wrongful termination, discipline from school, temporary relocation expenses, temporary private tutoring, lost wages and legal expenses.
• Cyber extortion coverage helps you recover from ransomware attacks that block you from accessing your personal data and demanding a fee to regain control. This coverage might include assistance from experts who can help you regain your files and reimbursement for any ransom paid, if approved by your insurance company.
• Data breach coverage helps pay for services if personal data entrusted to you is lost, stolen or published. For example, if you sell tickets for a school fundraiser and have credit card information from buyers on your tablet and the tablet is stolen, this coverage would pay for services to the individuals who were affected by the data breach.
• Online fraud coverage pays for direct financial losses due to problems like identity theft, unauthorized banking or credit card transfers, phishing schemes and other types of fraud.

In addition to the above types of coverage, personal cyber insurance might include services such as:

• Access to fraud specialists who can assist you throughout the recovery and resolution process
• Active cyber monitoring to help prevent or minimize a cyber loss
• Lawsuit protection for allegations of unintentional online libel, slander or invasion of privacy
• Replacing or repairing electronic data
• Retrieving, replacing or recreating financial or personal identification documents

How Does Personal Cyber Insurance Work?

If you are the victim of a cyberattack, you can file a claim to help pay for expenses (like legal fees or document recovery) and direct financial losses (like fraudulent credit card charges) covered by your policy. The policy will have a coverage limit and a deductible.

For example, if you have a cyber insurance policy that has online fraud coverage with a $15,000 policy limit and a $500 deductible, and you were the victim of an online scam and donated $2,000 to a fake charity, you would get an insurance check for $1,500 ($2,000 minus $500 deductible).

In some cases, your insurance company might approve ransom payment for cyber extortion cases. But don’t pay it without getting your insurance company’s approval. The FBI recommends not paying ransom as it does not guarantee release of a decryption key and, in some cases, the cyber criminals demand more ransom after the first payment.

How Do I Get Personal Cyber Insurance

If you have a renters, condo or homeowners insurance policy, your insurer might offer personal cyber insurance as an optional coverage. Some insurers offer personal cyber insurance only for high-value home insurance policies.

Personal cyber insurance looks to be a growing market. While only 20% of respondents to Verisk’s survey said they have personal cyber insurance, more than 66% of past cyberattack victims said they’d be receptive to paying for personal cyber insurance if it was offered.

Who Sells Personal Cyber Insurance?

Acuity Identity Theft and Cyber Protection

Acuity’s homeowners, condo and renters insurance policyholders may be able to add Identity Theft and Cyber Protection coverage. This includes coverage for problems like cyber extortion, credit card fraud, identity theft, and data recovery and system restoration.

AIG Family CyberEdge

AIG homeowners insurance policyholders may be able to add this coverage as an endorsement. Family CyberEdge includes coverage for Cyber Extortion, data restoration, crisis management and cyberbullying. Coverage limits can range from $50,000 to $250,000.

You may also be able to add identity monitoring services to your Family CyberEdge coverage. For example, we examined an AIG policy that included this service for an additional $80 per person in annual premium.

Arbella Home Cyber Protection

Policyholders in Connecticut and Massachusetts may be able to add this coverage to their homeowners insurance. In addition to covering problems like cyber attacks, cyber extortion, cyberbullying, data breach and online fraud, Arbella offers cyber claims specialist support.

Chubb Masterpiece Cyber Protection

Chubb homeowners insurance policyholders may already have some cyber protection in their policies, such as document replacement, identity theft resolution assistance, legal assistance for unintentional online libel or slander, and reimbursement for fraudulent credit card charges. But homeowners who add Masterpiece Cyber Protection can get additional coverage for problems like cyber extortion, cyberbullying, cyber financial loss and cyber breach of privacy.

Chubb also partners with a crisis management firm that can evaluate your vulnerabilities and help you recover your identity if you are a victim of online fraud. Chubb will also pay for public relations, legal and digital forensics firms.

Mercury Insurance Home Cyber Protection

Mercury’s home and renters insurance policyholders can add Home Cyber Protection to their policies. This includes coverage for computer attacks, home systems attacks, cyber extortion and online fraud. Mercury also offers access to specialists if you’re a victim of cyber extortion.

PURE Starling Fraud and Cyber Fraud

PURE Starling is an endorsement to a PURE high-value homeowners insurance policy. It covers problems such as fraud and cyber crime, cyber extortion, and systems attack. It also includes active cyber monitoring and access to cyber security experts.

You can choose five levels of coverage limits, depending on your eligibility:

• $100,000 with a $500 deductible
• $250,000 ($100,000 data recovery and systems restoration sub-limit; $100,000 breach notification costs sub-limit) with a $1,000 deductible
• $500,000 ($100,000 data recovery and systems restoration sub-limit; $100,000 breach notification costs sub-limit) with a $1,000 deductible
• $1 million ($100,000 data recovery and systems restoration sub-limit; $200,000 breach notification costs sub-limit) with a $1,000 deductible
• $2 million ($200,000 data recovery and systems restoration sub-limit; $200,000 breach notification costs sub-limit) with a $2,000 deductible

PURE Starling also covers theft of cryptocurrency due to a cyber attack.

Safety Insurance Home Cyber Protection Coverage

Safety’s Home Cyber Protection is available to policyholders in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It covers losses for compromised data on computers, mobile devices and other connected technology, such as smart home devices. Safety also offers access to specialists to respond to cyber extortion demands.

You can purchase coverage limits in amounts of $25,000 or $50,000 with a $500 deductible.

State Farm Identity Restoration Insurance

State Farm Identity Restoration insurance is an optional coverage available for homeowners, condo, renters, manufactured home and farm insurance policyholders for an additional $25 per year.

State Farm’s base coverage reimburses you for the costs associated with identity theft (up to $50,000) and you’ll be assigned a case manager who will work with your credit card companies, creditors and other financial institutions for up to one year. You may be able to add endorsements for cyber attack coverage and cyber extortion coverage. These endorsements have a combined annual limit of up to $15,000.

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Ask Your Insurance Company About Cyber Coverage

Ask your home insurance company if it offers a cyber insurance add-on.

You may be able also to add fraud coverage to supplement what’s not covered by your homeowners policy. While homeowners insurance typically already covers credit and debit card fraud, check forgery and counterfeit cash, fraud coverage can help cover financial losses from fraud such as identity theft. It can also help cover intentional and criminal deception, which is when you have a financial loss after you’re misled.

Do You Need Personal Cyber Insurance?

You may be able to mitigate your own risk from cybercrime with antivirus software, credit-monitoring services and identity theft insurance. But it’s not a foolproof defense and it won’t cover your direct financial losses like fraudulent credit card charges, private tutoring due to cyberbullying or reimbursement if you need to pay a ransom to recover your hijacked personal files.

If a thief runs up your credit card bill, federal law limits your responsibility for unauthorized charges to $50 if you report the loss within two business days. But if you don’t notice the charges in two days, you could be on the hook for up to $500. If you don’t notice within 60 days, you could be liable for all of the charges.

If the fraudulent charges were due to an online fraud, a personal cyber insurance policy could help cover some of these expenses.

How Can I Prevent Cyber Attacks?

Here are steps you can take to reduce your risk of a cyber attack:

• Use an identity theft protection service.
• Use a two-step authentication for logins, such as your email and social media accounts.
• Change your password every two to three months. Use a “strong” password that is at least 12 characters long. Use a secure password manager to accurately save your passwords.
• Never save your credit card information online.
• Use safe payment options when shopping online. Credit cards are generally safer than debit cards.
• Keep your devices and computers updated and install the latest operating system.
• Backup digital information (such as music, photos, contacts, and financial and health records) by making copies of your data to a cloud service and hard drive.

If your computer or device is infected with ransomware, the FBI recommends the following:

• Isolate the infected computer or device. Remove it from your network to prevent it from attacking other computers, devices and access points.
• Isolate or power-off devices and computers that have not yet been completely corrupted.
• Immediately secure your backup data or systems by taking them offline.
• Change all online account and network passwords (after removing the system from the network).
• If available, collect and secure partial portions of the ransomed data.
• Delete registry values and files to stop the program from loading.
• Contact law enforcement, such as a field office of the FBI field office or U.S. Secret Service, to report a ransomware event and ask for assistance.