How good is Hiscox cyber insurance?

Hiscox are a leading provider of cyber insurance in the UK. We take an independent look at what they offer and how it stacks up to the competition.

Who are Hiscox?

Hiscox is an international insurer who offer a wide range of insurance policies for both businesses and individuals, including business, home and travel insurance.

They insure over 60,000 homes in the UK and supply public liability and professional indemnity cover for over 300,000 UK SMEs, sole traders and consultants.

What about their cyber insurance?

Unlike some other insurers, Hiscox offer the option of standalone cyber insurance, rather than just including cover as part of a broader business insurance policy (although you can choose to do this as well).

Their cyber insurance includes cover for:

• Loss of income from a data breach
• Reputational damage
• GDPR non-compliance claims
• Funding to investigate the original cause of a breach
• Replacement or repair of your equipment

Hiscox also state that they will work directly with experts like IT forensics, legal and PR firms if you need to make a claim.

However, you will have to pay extra if you’d like any of the following:

• Corporate ID theft cover
• Social engineering fraud protection
• Electronic theft

All these options are only available with the Hiscox Financial Crime cover package which you can choose to add to their standard CyberClear protection.

There are also some notable exclusions though that you should be aware of, these include:

• Any hack by a partner or director of your business
• Any infrastructure failure from a telecoms, internet or utilities supplier to your business
• Any damage caused by negligence or reckless conduct
• Any death or bodily injury
• Destruction of tangible property

While these are all common policy exclusions, it’s good to be aware of them before you get a quote – you can check all the exclusions on the Hiscox policy document.

The Hiscox cyber and data insurance policy was the only one to get a 100% score in the 2018 Insurance Times Cyber Product Report (paywall). 

How easy is it to get a quote?

You can either get a quote from Hiscox online or by calling their UK call centre on 0808 2507 806.

Their online quote process includes all their business insurance options not just Cyber Insurance, but still takes less than 10 minutes to complete and consists of five steps:

1. Your business
2. Cover options
3. Your quote
4. Review
5. Payment

During the quote process you’ll need to:

• Choose the cover level: You can select options between £100,000 and £1 million
• Choose an excess: You can select options between £1,000 and £10,000
• Decide whether to add financial crime cover

You can also get a discount if you have Cyber Essentials accreditation, both Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus.

How expensive is Hiscox cyber insurance?

This will vary depending on your business and the level of cover you choose, so it’s always best to compare quotes from several different insurers before you buy.

Unlike some insurers, Hiscox won’t charge you extra to pay for your cover in monthly instalments which could make them cheaper if you want to spread the cost over the year.

What extra support do Hiscox offer?

Hiscox has proactively taken a lead in the Cyber Insurance market in recent years and has developed several tools and resources to support businesses.

In June 2019 they launched a Cyber Exposure Calculator to help business owners and senior managers better understand the potential financial impact of a cyber attack.

Their CyberClear Academy offers a wealth of information and training modules to support their business customers and access is included for free with their Cyber cover.

Since 2017 they have also published an annual report to help assess how prepared business owners are for an attack – you can read the 2019 Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report here.

What do their customers think?

Overall Hiscox score well when you look at the feedback they get from their customers.

At the time of writing they have a Feefo rating of 4.6/5 and a Trustpilot score of 4 stars.

However, these reviews are not exclusively from their cyber insurance customers, or even their business customers but for Hiscox as a whole.

What’s the verdict?

Overall Hiscox offer comprehensive cyber insurance with the option to add additional cover if your business needs it.

They also boast a strong reputation both with industry experts and their customers, making them an attractive option.

Their cyber insurance may not always be the cheapest in the market, but it offers award winning cover and a host of added benefits that could be of value to many business owners.