New privacy/network security product tailored for Canadian market

Allied World North America has launched privacy and network security insurance specifically designed for small to mid-size companies in the Canadian market, the company announced Tuesday.

“Privacy//101” is intended for small and medium-sized enterprises – such as law firms, healthcare facilities and other organizations – that experience a data breach involving lost or stolen private information, whether paper or electronic, notes a statement from Allied World, a global provider of property, casualty and specialty insurance and reinsurance solutions.

“All businesses that store employee and client information are at risk for privacy exposures and we aim to help our customers mitigate that threat,” Kent Paisley, Allied World’s senior vice president of professional lines, says in the statement.

The insurance offers coverage for costs associated with a data breach, including:

• notification of all individuals whose private information has been lost or stolen;
• associated credit monitoring costs;
• public relations expenses; and
• costs incurred by the insured to retain a qualified data forensics firm.

The insurance also provides coverage for third-party financial claims, including legal fees and expenses incurred by the insured, and fines and penalties assessed pursuant to Canadian federal and provincial law.

The Canadian offering follows the release of the product in the United States in 2011, reports Allied World, which has released a number of products in Canada since last spring.

These have included a management liability product suite for private companies and non-profit organizations (comprised of directors and officers liability, employment practices liability, fiduciary liability, crime coverage, and kidnap and ransom/extortion coverage); a property line for energy risks in the Canadian market; a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) line in the Canadian market (including representation and warranty insurance, tax opinion liability, specific contingency insurance, loss portfolio transfers and loss mitigation insurance/litigation buyout); and a directors and officers policy to address coverage gaps for directors and officers of publicly traded companies in the Canadian market.

“We continue building a world-class specialty insurance business in the Canadian marketplace and the release of the Privacy//101 product is our latest initiative,” Paisley says.