Cyber insurance is designed to help a business respond to and recover from cyber events such as ransomware, data breaches and business email compromise. Cover can include specialist incident response, forensic investigation, legal and notification costs, data restoration, lost revenue during digital interruption and liability to third parties, subject to underwriting, terms, conditions, exclusions and policy wording.
A cyber event is an operational risk, not an IT problem. When systems go down, revenue stops, data may be exposed and the business carries response and notification obligations while all of it is happening. Cyber insurance is designed to fund the response, support lost revenue during digital interruption and respond to third-party and regulatory exposure, subject to policy terms. DKG reviews how your business would actually be interrupted before the cover is placed.
Why it matters
The real problem is not being hacked. It is that a business that cannot access its systems, its data or its money cannot trade. Any business that takes payments, holds customer or employee data, depends on systems to operate or sits in someone else’s supply chain carries this exposure, and attacks are largely automated and indiscriminate rather than targeted at size. Outsourcing your IT does not outsource the legal responsibility for the data or the loss of revenue.
For mid-market and corporate businesses the exposure compounds: larger interruption values, contractual requirements to hold cover and board scrutiny of cyber resilience. Insurance does not substitute for controls. Insurers now generally require baseline measures such as multi-factor authentication and tested backups before offering terms at all.
What are the benefits?
- Access to specialist incident responders, forensic investigators and legal advisers from the first hours of an event, where the policy provides a response panel.
- Funding support for the costs a cyber event generates: investigation, notification, data restoration and recovery, subject to policy terms.
- Cover designed to support lost revenue during digital interruption, with its own waiting period and indemnity period mechanics.
- A response to third-party claims and regulatory investigation costs where insurable, subject to wording.
- A structured review of the crime and cyber boundary, so funds transfer fraud and social engineering have a deliberate home rather than an assumed one.
- Independent advice on limits, sub-limits and retentions measured against how your business actually earns and what data it actually holds.
What can it cover?
Cover can include, subject to policy wording:
- Incident response costs: forensics, legal advice, crisis communication and notification support.
- Data restoration and system recovery costs after a malicious event.
- Business interruption cover for lost revenue during digital downtime, typically after a waiting period measured in hours and within the policy’s own indemnity period.
- Cyber extortion response, where lawful and included.
- Privacy and security liability to third parties whose data or systems are affected.
- Regulatory investigation costs, and fines and penalties only where insurable at law.
- Contingent business interruption for critical third-party platforms and providers, where the wording extends to them. Dependent business cover varies widely between policies and is not automatic.
- Fraudulent funds transfer and social engineering losses, which may be sub-limited, optional or placed in a crime policy instead. This is one of the most common gaps in the market and needs deliberate design.
What usually isn’t covered?
Exclusions and limitations vary between policies, but commonly include, subject to policy wording:
- Incidents and circumstances known before the policy started.
- Failure of power, telecommunications or other infrastructure and utilities.
- Betterment: upgrading systems beyond their pre-event state.
- Losses connected to unencrypted portable media or failure to maintain the controls stated in the proposal.
- Dishonesty of principals, in various forms across wordings.
- Fines and penalties that are not insurable at law.
- War and state-sponsored attack exclusions, which vary between insurers and are an active area of market change.
- Bodily injury and property damage arising from cyber events, which sit between markets and should never be assumed covered either way.
- Other cover may be considered and additional exclusions may apply.
How DKG supports you
DKG starts with how a cyber event would actually interrupt your business, not with a product. We review your systems dependency and what stops when they go down, the volume and type of personal information you hold, your critical third-party platforms, your control baseline in general terms and any contractual requirements to hold cover. We also test proposal answers with your IT function before they are given, because control attestations form part of the contract and aspirational answers are how disputes start.
We then structure and place the programme: first-party and third-party limits measured against interruption values and records held rather than premium budget; waiting periods and indemnity periods set deliberately; sub-limits surfaced rather than discovered at claim time; and the crime and cyber boundary closed in one policy or the other so social engineering losses have exactly one home. Where system failure or contingent business interruption extensions matter to your operations, we negotiate for them.
When an event occurs, early notification matters. We help you treat suspicious activity as a notifiable circumstance rather than waiting for certainty, engage the insurer’s response arrangements correctly and advocate on your behalf through to resolution, with the insurer and the policy wording determining the outcome. As your systems, providers and data profile change, we review the cover against them.
To discuss cyber incident response, data breach and digital interruption risks, contact Carien via email or phone on 1800 252 926.
At DKG Insurance Brokers, we understand that the needs of each customer are different, therefore we will take the time to assess your individual risk requirements and deliver a bespoke solution. Please reach out to one of our experienced brokers today.
Related services
Professional Indemnity Insurance
Management Liability (including Boardroom Liability) Insurance
Financial and Professional Liability Insurance
Business Interruption Insurance
Digital Assets Insurance
Important note − The information provided is general advice only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. When making decisions about cyber insurance, please consider the Product Disclosure Statement.
In FY2024–25, ASD’s ACSC received over 42,500 calls to the Australian Cyber Security Hotline, a 16% increase from the previous year. ASD’s ACSC also responded to over 1,200 cyber security incidents, an 11% increase. During FY2024–25, ASD’s ACSC notified entities more than 1,700 times of potentially malicious cyber activity – an 83% increase from last year – highlighting the ongoing need for vigilance and action to mitigate against persistent threats.
In FY2024–25, ASD’s ACSC received over 42,500 calls to the Australian Cyber Security Hotline, a 16% increase from the previous year. ASD’s ACSC also responded to over 1,200 cyber security incidents, an 11% increase. During FY2024–25, ASD’s ACSC notified entities more than 1,700 times of potentially malicious cyber activity – an 83% increase from last year – highlighting the ongoing need for vigilance and action to mitigate against persistent threats.
Why Choose DKG Insurance Brokers?
Reach out to Carien Ahdar via email or call 1800 252 926 to learn how we tailor cyber insurance to your operational, regulatory and risk management requirements.
Choosing DKG Insurance Brokers means partnering with a brokerage treating a cyber event as an operational risk, not an IT problem. Our team works across industries to structure cover aligned to how your business earns revenue, the data you hold and the systems you depend on to trade.
We work closely with specialist insurers, including Lloyd’s markets and other A-rated underwriters, to arrange protection for exposures including data breach, business interruption during digital downtime, ransomware, cyber crime, privacy liability and regulatory investigation.
As privacy and data protection obligations change, Australian businesses need cyber cover both commercially practical and fit for purpose. Our approach focuses on identifying coverage gaps, negotiating appropriate policy terms and closing the crime and cyber boundary so social engineering losses have one deliberate home.
Whether you are buying cyber cover for the first time, meeting a client or tender requirement, or reviewing an existing programme, DKG Insurance Brokers structures cover reflecting how your business would actually be interrupted.
In FY2024–25, ASD’s ACSC received over 42,500 calls to the Australian Cyber Security Hotline, a 16% increase from the previous year. ASD’s ACSC also responded to over 1,200 cyber security incidents, an 11% increase. During FY2024–25, ASD’s ACSC notified entities more than 1,700 times of potentially malicious cyber activity – an 83% increase from last year – highlighting the ongoing need for vigilance and action to mitigate against persistent threats.