The Hartford Unveils New Cyber Liability Policy

Information sharing among Internet users via web-based communities such as social-networking sites has today become a real liability threat for many organizations, businesses and universities around the country.

In fact, according to Trend Micro, an Internet content security firm, there has been a dramatic increase in web threat activity during the first half of 2008, with web threats peaking in March at 50 million, from approximately 15 million in December 2007.

To address the growing concern around threats now associated with the functionalities of Web 2.0, Hartford Financial Products, an underwriting unit of The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. has developed a new liability product, CyberChoice 2.0 that provides businesses with a robust, technology-related insurance policy that goes beyond traditional business insurance.

CyberChoice 2.0 includes both errors and omissions and first-party coverage designed to help meet the needs of today’s traditional companies that recognize their technology exposure and information risks. Companies and/or organizations with personally identifiable information (PII) include:

• Healthcare
• Financial Services
• Retail
• Manufacturing
• Education
• Legal
• Media
• Miscellaneous companies such as data processors, application service providers and e-commerce companies that have an increased Cyber exposure.

Key features of The Hartford’s new CyberChoice 2.0 product include:

• Third-party coverage for data privacy and network security liability; Internet and electronic media liability; and professional services liability.
• First-party business interruption coverage in the event of a network security breach.
• First-party cyber extortion coverage for threats against data and identity theft.
• Intellectual property coverage for advertising and technology products.
• Reimbursement for expenses related to responding to a major privacy event. Some examples include notification of affected parties, costs for managing the crisis, data privacy regulatory fines, cost associated with credit monitoring, and investigation of the event by outside experts.
• Up to $10 million in coverage limits are available.

CyberChoice 2.0 is available via The Hartford Financial Products unit. To learn more about CyberChoice 2.0 visit www.hfpinsurance.com or contact Patricia Fitzgerald at (212) 277-0457.