Egypt’s insurance federation considers launch of cybercrime insurance cover product
Egypt’s Insurance Federation (IFE) considers launching a new insurance product designated to mitigate cybercrimes.
Cybercrimes include loss of funds to online fraud, identity theft, cyberstalking and extortion, as well as phishing and malware attack.
Cybercrime is the greatest threat to every company in the world, and one of the biggest problems with mankind. The impact on society is reflected in the numbers.
Last year, Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015. This represents the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history, risks the incentives for innovation and investment, and will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.
The damage cost projections are based on historical cybercrime figures including recent year-over-year growth, a dramatic increase in hostile nation state sponsored and organized crime gang hacking activities, and a cyberattack surface which will be an order of magnitude greater in 2021 than it is nowadays.
Cover is provided for management liability, professional liability, crime, and regulatory investigations, and cyber coverage can be easily added on to protect against the financial impact caused by privacy and cybercrime events.
Egypt’s parliament initialed last May a cybercrime bill aiming at combating the illegal use of computers and information networks.
The Anti-Cyber and Information Technology Crimes bill defines commonly used concepts such as “websites, traffic data, digital directory, personal statements and national security.”
The bill regulates Internet Service Providers’ (ISPs) activities and their obligation to provide national security authorities with information on users suspected of spreading terrorist and extremist ideologies via the internet. It also aims at securing personal data of internet users.
Article 18 offers punishment of not less than one month in prison or a fine of not less than 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,799) and not more than 100,000 pounds for anyone who breaches or harms someone’s personal email account or website.
Parliament also approved article 9 of the cybercrime law, allowing the country’s attorney general or specialised investigative authorities to impose travel bans on persons charged of committing or attempting to commit cybercrimes, if enough evidence against them exists.
In April, Parliament’s Communications and Information Technology Committee approved the draft cybercrime law, which aims to pose surveillance on social media and limit the spread of fake news, particularly those that incite violence.
