The specialist insurer on Tuesday announced a new product offering cyber insurance for motorists, offering coverage to protect drivers from cyber-attacks, ransomware and identity theft.
Germany-based Munich RE said it has developed the Cyber for Auto product through its US-based subsidiary HSB to help consumers respond to cyber-attacks they face through the use of connected cars. .
Connected cars are under increasing scrutiny for widespread and largely unregulated data practices, such as collecting driver biometrics, call logs, text message content, and driving patterns and selling them to data brokers.
The new insurance option, first reported by Reinsurance News, is aimed at private car owners and is “designed to protect against cyber threats on the road,” the company said in a press release, adding that it is “designed to protect against cyber threats on the road and The company emphasized that it protects “data stored in apps that are accessed.”
“With millions of connected vehicles on U.S. roads, cars and trucks are likely to become the next big targets for hackers and cyber thieves,” the release said.
Munich RE, the world’s largest reinsurer with total premiums of around 70 billion euros ($75.7 billion) in 2023, says its “unique” coverage offering is “stored in the private vehicle, cloud-based and wireless It said it would help protect “personal data connected to it.” network. ”
“Car manufacturers continue to incorporate new technology into today’s vehicles,” James Hajjar, chief product and risk officer of HSB’s treaty division, part of Munich Re, said in a statement. “Every time a system or connection is added, there are new vulnerabilities that hackers and other cybercriminals can exploit.”
The release states that passenger cars designed after 2020, and even earlier, are equipped with sensors, computers and other connected technologies, making them significantly more vulnerable to cyberattacks. , points out that drivers who sync their smartphones to their vehicles are “vulnerable to cyber-attacks and online extortion.” and identity theft. ”
In a recent interview with Recorded Future News, surveillance expert Byron Tau explained how sensors designed to measure tire pressure can also track a car’s location. Tau called cars “computers on wheels,” saying they were designed by companies other than computer companies and that “there are many paths for this data to travel from the consumer to many unknown parties.” Ta.
“Car companies in general have had very little consideration for privacy, and they won’t really consider it until they are forced to do so by consumers or regulators,” Tau said.
The new Cyber for Auto insurance product will indemnify drivers against attacks on “personal data connected to and stored on their vehicles,” the release said, adding that “people’s cars are becoming targets of ransomware. “It’s just a matter of time,” he said, “and identity theft and other types of cybercrime.” ”
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