How to help consumers win the insurance 'Game of Thrones'

Game of Thrones fans are anxiously waiting to learn what happens when the final episode of the show airs on HBO on Sunday May 19, 2019.^.

At the same time, security experts are warning that cybercriminals are ready to take advantage of the show’s popularity to attack people’s computers.

Hackers victimize TV fans

The huge popularity of the show makes illegal download sites, where users can view episodes without the required subscriptions, popular distribution points for malware. In 2018, Game of Thrones accounted for 17% all infected pirated content, according to Kaspersky Labs, even though no new episodes aired on TV over that time. This suggests that the coming finale could be the most dangerous time to be downloading the torrents. According to Kaspersky, the most popular kind of attack via pirated content was a trojan, a piece of software that is installed on a computer and allows the hacker to take control of that device.

Real world threats

While the fantasy characters of Game of Thrones live in an extremely dangerous physical environment, threatened by dragons, brutal warfare and starvation, today’s Americans are more concerned about cybercrime than violent crimes (including terrorism and being murdered), according to a Gallup study. Worries about cybercrime have persisted for about a decade now, with 71% of Americans reporting being worried about having their personal or financial information hacked and 67% of Americans worried about being a victim of identity theft.

Despite these worries, more than four out of five American consumers who own connected devices either lack insurance to protect them from cyberthreats or don’t know if they are covered, according to the Insurance Information Institute and J.D. Power 2018 Consumer Cyber Insurance and Security Spotlight Survey℠. The survey further shows that as more people choose to expose their personal information on digital platforms, insurance professionals can play a prominent role in educating consumers about cyber risk by dispelling misperceptions about the cost of protection by demonstrating the relatively inexpensive and valuable coverage that is available to them.

Serving consumers

Insurance policies can differ by company and sometimes substantially. Yet the typical homeowners or renters’ policy only covers stolen identity risks via an endorsement that must be added at the policyholder’s request.

Known as identity restoration coverage, the endorsement helps policyholders after their personally identifiable information is stolen. Expenses such as attorney’s fees and lost wages may be covered, and a fraud specialist may be available to manage the restoration process. As an alternative, a handful of insurers offer stand-alone policies that cover identity restoration, along with professional assistance for responding to personal ransomware attacks and malware removal, as well as reprogramming computers and other devices such as Wi-Fi routers.

In 2017, direct premiums written for identity theft coverage totaled $232 million. There were almost 20 million policies in force, including stand-alone policies and coverage for identity theft that was part of a package policy, such as homeowners’ or renters’ policies. As noted, consumer awareness of these valuable add-ons and stand-alone policies for cyber coverage is low; 42% of those surveyed were unsure whether they had any sort of coverage.

This creates an opportunity for the insurance industry to show current and future policyholders how cyber risk coverage can be a low-cost tool to protect their identities and assets.

The survey also found that despite the growing number of people who have experienced identity theft and have privacy concerns about using social media, three-quarters of connected technology users are not willing to pay more on their current policy for cyber risk coverage.

Currently, the options available to protect consumers against cyber risks are relatively inexpensive. The fact that consumers think cyber coverage is too costly presents an opportunity for insurance professionals to dispel these misperceptions and discuss what options are available to them. As agents and others explain to consumers the various coverages for property insurance, for instance, they can take the opportunity to highlight identity restoration and its benefits in today’s risky environment.

Maria Sassian is research director at the Insurance Information Institute. To reach this contributor, send email to marias@iii.org or call (212) 346-5572. These opinions are the author’s own.

See also: ‘Winter is coming’ for traditional insurance industry call centers