SILENT CYBER

SILENT CYBER

Subject : Science & tech

Context : “Insurers may place this matter (silent cyber issue) high on the agenda and address this problem sooner than later,” the IRDAI committee said in its report.

Concept :

• Silent cyber is the unknown exposure in an insurer’s portfolio created by a cyber peril, which has not been explicitly excluded or included.
• This is also known as “unintended” or “non-affirmative” cyber coverage. A cyber event can trigger losses across various lines of insurance.
• Silent cyber refers to potential cyber-related losses stemming from traditional property and liability policies that were not specifically designed to cover cyber risk.
• Unlike the specialist standalone cyber insurance products that are available in the market today, traditional liability policies were not designed with cyber exposures in mind and therefore may not implicitly include or exclude cyber risks.
• This coverage ambiguity can result in a silent cyber scenario, whereby an insurer may have to pay claims for cyber losses off a policy not designed for that purpose.

About IRDAI

• The IRDAI is an autonomous, statutory body established under Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999
• It is tasked with regulating and promoting the insurance and re-insurance industries in India.
• Its headquarters is in Hyderabad, Telangana and is a 10-member body including the chairman, five full-time and four part-time members appointed by the government of India.