Phishield develops unique cyber fraud insurance

New GENRIC UMA brings a must-have insurance add-on that broadens brokers’ offering.

Phishield is a brand new GENRIC Insurance underwriting management agency (UMA) that brings a unique cyber fraud insurance to the South African market. This insurance includes, but is not limited to phishing fraud.

The new product offers a loss of funds insurance that puts policyholders back into the position that they were in before they became victims of identity theft as a result of phishing.

Phishing is malignant stealth software that is installed on computers by criminals for criminal use, such as stealing someone’s bank details to access bank account information. This software often hides in emails or on websites, installing remotely on a computer that accesses the email or website without the user being aware of this.

“Internet penetration in South Africa is increasing, but most users don’t have a full understanding of the threats they are facing on a daily basis,” says Rudolph Lamprecht, CEO of Phishield.

Phishing is growing

The country with the highest average rate for phishing activity globally in 2014 was South Africa, with an overall average phishing rate in organisations of 1 in 568 users for the year.

In 2014, 24.9 million people in South Africa used the internet, according to social media marketing and communications firm, We Are Social, of the total population of 53 million.

If one applies these two statistics this means that 43,838 South Africans could have been targeted by phishing in the past year.

“This kind of criminal activity is big and easy money for organised crime,” says Lamprecht, adding that these crimes are often undetected for long periods, while catching the criminals behind this kind of fraud is notoriously difficult.

More and more people are becoming vulnerable to cyber crime, and often with very little recourse to recover losses suffered as a result of a cyber attack.

“As many as 69% of all cases referred to the ombudsman are found in favour of banks, as opposed to individuals, with only about 20% of these claims are paid in full,” says Lamprecht. Additionally, according to the 2014 Ombudsman Report, the number of reported cases linked to phishing has increased to 45% from 30% previously, Lamprecht noted.

This is where Phishield steps in.

Excellent add-on

The insurance is an excellent add-on to any policyholder’s insurance profile, since phishing fraud is a risk to every single internet user.

The policy has stated tiered benefits up to R100,000 per claim.

With the loss-of-funds insurance plan, Phishield also provides a world-leading internet security software brand. The condition of pay-out on the Phishield insurance policy is that the policyholder must have reputable internet security software installed on the device at the time of the breach.

“Our value proposition is that alongside our premier insurance product we also provide a world-leading internet security software brand,” Bruce Goodwill, Sales & Business Development Director at Phishield, explains. “However, if you get the insurance, but you already have an internet security programme, Phishield also works with most of the top brands for internet security.”

Solid insurance partner

The policy is fully underwritten by GENRIC Insurance Company.

“GENRIC is the right partner for this product because it is an excellent brand,” says Lamprecht. “GENRIC understands risk management innovation, and has an impeccable financial and claims paying record. It has an amazing broker network that can fully utilise our product.”

Cornel Schoeman, chief commercial officer at GENRIC, agrees.

“Phishield offers a unique product for brokers to add on to personal line products,” he explains. “This is a unique value added product that can easily embed in other products. This is relevant to everyone.”