Soon, a cover to protect individuals from social media activity

Moneycontrol BureauSocial media junkies will no longer have to hold back from expressing self on social media sites as Bajaj Allianz is in the midst of finanlising a policy to cover any third party liability from any social media activity. A report in the Economic Times says that the insurance company is finalising a policy that will cover individuals same way as cyber insurance exists for the corporates. The way it will work is simple. If an individual is stuck in a case for posting something online and has to pay compensation, the cost will be covered under the above insurance. The insurance policy will cover risks like phishing, harassment, hacking on information and cyber stalking, mentions the report. A study by ASSOCHAM and Mahindra SSG says that cyber attacks in India are growing at a rate of 107 percent with around 12,456 new cases every month. A survey on cybercrime by KPMG says that almost 72 percent of Indian companies have faced cybercrimes in 2015. Currently, cyber insurance covers corporates like IT, pharmaceutical and banking sectors. Insurance companies are also seeing growth in demand for cyber security from corporates to secure confidential data. The cyber security market in India is about Rs 1,000 crore. India’s expenditure on security is likely to reach USD 1 billion by 2019, says an ASSOCHAM-Mahindra SSG report titled ‘New Age Crime’. “India needs to at least USD 4 billion in public-private partnership (PPP) mode to address cybercrime related challenges at both individual and organisational levels including cyber sexual harassment, cyber bullying, information theft, defacing website, inflicting servers with viruses and others,” says the study.