Teddy Njoroge
Kenya’s vulnerability to cyber-attacks has brought to the fore the need for cyber insurance. Government institutions and banks are among those who have found themselves on the tail end of the stick, with attacks estimated at 3,000 per month. Many of them have either gone undetected or unreported by their victims.
Cyber liability cover is designed to assist organisations and individual consumers of information communication technologies (ICT) by offsetting costs involved in recovering from cyber-attacks. With a robust and thriving economy that is fast-embracing technology, Kenya remains a ripe target for would-be cyber-criminals.
The country is currently rated eleventh globally among the most vulnerable to cyber-attacks. A key contributor to this is the fact that we do not have adequate human capital in the form of cyber-specialists to tackle the problem.
With only 1,000 qualified and certified ICT risk professionals compared to over 37.7 million Internet users, we are greatly exposed. Some of the potential risks to business include distributed denial of service (DDos) attacks, malicious intrusions such as ransomware and phishing hacks, worms, eavesdropping and spams.
Common measures that have been traditionally available include the deployment of antivirus software, intrusion-detection and prevention systems and firewalls.
But even as ICT security companies concentrate on developing and deploying new tools and techniques to protect vulnerable systems and other infrastructure, it is virtually impossible to achieve a 100 per cent success if ardent user sensitisation and prudent use of ICTs is not instilled in an organisation.
It may not be obligatory to secure insurance against cyber-attacks as a business continuity element yet. But whether procured as a stand-alone or a bundled solution with other ICT services, cyber insurance will go a long way in standardising the underwriting business with the aim of achieving the best solutions in partnership with ICT security services providers while minimising risks.
In the end, cyber insurance is just a risk management tool for businesses to shift liability for a guaranteed security from the underwriter.
However, the ideal scenario would be a situation where everyone takes ownership of the process to manage their own level of risk and liability as a proactive step towards preventing attacks. The writer is the country manager at ICT security firm, ESET East Africa
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