Ing. Zdeněk Přibyl is the Director of the Property Risks Department at SATUM CZECH s.r.o. and he specialises in Corporate and Municipal Insurance. He provides customer services at all stages of insurance contracting and management, in particular analyses, risk assessment, recommendations of investments and security policies, and also representation in claim events.
You are in charge of the Property Risks Insurance Department. What has been the leading insurance product recently?
Insurance. Due to the current preference of working from home, it is a fairly common requirement by many clients. Another reason is the increased number of hacking attacks, which have caused a lot of damage and, last but not least, is the media coverage of such incidents. Many companies invest considerably in the security of their corporate servers and infrastructure, both physically and in cyber space. Unfortunately, such attention is not paid to the end devices, which then are the gateway for hackers. The threat can break through home computers which employees use to access corporate data and which are often shared by all family members, including children, who uncontrollably install programs on these computers without the supervision of company‘s IT specialists. Last but not least, the causes are represented by insufficiently encrypted communication or unsecured USB drives with internal data.
Could you tell us what might then be covered by the insurance in the event of damage?
The contracted Cyber Risk Insurance can compensate for harms caused by unauthorised data handling, network security breaches, data leaks, cyber extortion and subsequent interruption of the entire company’s operation. The insurance includes also data recovery costs and potential fines imposed by supervisory authorities.
Due to the increased number of attacks, it is necessary to pay considerable attention both to prevention and security. If companies lack sufficient precautions in this field, insurance offices often refuse to sign or renew insurance contracts. Our specialists assist clients with the assessment of potential threats related to cyber insurance and they propose steps to be taken to facilitate the insurance process.
And what is the second leading product which you mentioned at the beginning?
It is Guarantee Insurance. It is similar to Bank Guarantees, which are much more common and well- known in the area of financial management. Again, this insurance is increasingly demanded owing to the current situation, when a lot of orders are being postponed or extended, maturity dates are postponed and companies seek guarantees from their suppliers and customers in order to improve their own cash flow and to avoid decreasing their line of credit and diversify their risks.
This insurance product fully replaces Bank Guarantees, without increasing the company‘s credit exposure. It is also possible to arrange for guarantees without an additional backstop, which opens up additional scope for companies to manage their finances.
Thank you for the interview.
