Vietnam has the third highest encounter rate with ransomware in the Asia-Pacific region, behind China and Indonesia, a Kaspersky report in November 2020 says. According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, in the first 10 months of 2020, Vietnam suffered 4,161 cyber attacks causing problems, i.e about 14 to 15 cases on average each day were detected and blocked.

The above-mentioned data shows that it is really risky to do business on internet platforms in Vietnam, which can directly affect several businesses in all sectors. Consequently, the demand for cyber insurance is rather high and the potential for insurers to develop data and network insurance is also very positive.

However, insurance companies have also faced many challenges in developing this product recently. In order to set up a process framework for information technology, data, software coverage, insurers are required to invest in digital innovation and connect with other stakeholders such as banks, telecommunication businesses, technology product and software suppliers.

Besides that, small and medium enterprises have currently paid little interest in and budget for information and data security. When insurance companies complete and launch their cyber insurance products, their selling price may be higher than the cost of technology investment and expertise resource spent in enterprises, thus it will be difficult to attract customers to purchase insurance protection.

The pioneers

Catching up with this trend, BSH becomes one of the first companies in Vietnam insurance market to provide online risk protection product. This is the very first time that there is an insurance company providing protection service in the online shopping environment.

BSH has cooperated with US partner – Cyberscout – the top company in the US in the field of cyber security. The product under cooperation between BSH and Cyberscount differs  from other cyber insurance products in that it is equipped with the ability to deal with the tactics of the hackers.

Cyber Guard compensated for customers when their money is stolen from the banking account or e-wallet; their data or digital asset is stolen; or when their personal information is stolen in the online environment, harming their reputation and finance.

Another local player, Bao Long, has launched its cyber insurance product since last year and committed to settling claims for customers within 15 days after receiving a complete application.

Bao Viet Insurance has also launched Cyber Liability Insurance aimed at the domestic business community to cover the risk of data theft, extortion with malicious code, online fraud or attacks on the local network causing business interruption.

Other foreign-invested insurers like Chubb and MSIG also joined the cyber insurance market in the past few years and provide a variety of coverages against cyber risks.