Cyber insurer Emergence has introduced a personal cyber product as the COVID-19 pandemic brings about a wave of heightened criminal activity that has increased risks for people working and studying from home.

“For many, this is the new norm and has opened the floodgates for greater exposure to data theft and cyber bullying,” Emergence Founder and CEO Troy Filipcevic said.

Emergence says it is offering Australia’s first stand-alone personal cyber product, with cover for events such as hacking, malware, viruses, cyber espionage, denial of service attacks and identity theft. It also responds to anti-social issues such as cyber bullying, stalking and harassment.

Emergence was started more than five years ago, focusing on the SME market, but Mr Filipcevic says the firm has been considering launching a personal product for a couple of years as risks for individuals have increased.

“Our dependence on the internet and exponential growth of web-enabled devices and social media has made us much more inter-connected, which opens up vulnerability to cyber crime at an ever-increasing, alarming rate,” he said.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s ReportCyber portal, which started in July last year, received almost 14,000 reports in its first quarter of operation. Over the period, individuals and SMEs self-reported financial losses totalling more than $890,000 each day, representing an estimated annual loss of about $328 million.

Mr Filipcevic says cyber insurance provides assistance with mitigating against risks as well as assisting after an event has happened, when many people are unsure about what they can do and how to respond.

Cover can include assistance for financial losses, legal advice, removal of harmful photos or information, wage replacement costs and access to counselling in cases such as cyber bullying.

“It is the experts and the help and the services that come along with a cyber insurance product that makes it unique,” Mr Filipcevic tells insuranceNEWS.com.au.

An Emergence white paper highlights that 88% of the Australian population, or 22.3 million people use the internet, and some 18 million use social media.

The personal cyber product is underwritten by Lloyd’s and distributed through brokers.