Willis Towers Watson Launches Cyber Coverage for Construction Industry

Willis Towers Watson has launched tailored cyber insurance coverage for the construction industry.

CyCon was developed in close cooperation with specialty cyber insurance provider NAS Insurance Services and is available nationwide. The coverage includes a blend of first- and third-party coverages with specific enhancements tailored to the industry.

It was designed to address the growing cyber exposures faced by the construction sector as the industry migrates toward “smart” operating systems that rely on sophisticated automation and enhanced technologies for project design, modeling, safety management and project delivery. Additionally, many construction companies increasingly hold sensitive data and rely on digital connectivity with business partners and subcontractors to exchange information, including employee records and business plans.

In a survey of construction executives globally, the Willis Towers Watson Construction Risk Index revealed that cyberattacks and the failure of IT systems were identified as top risks facing their business.

Key features of the new coverage include:

• Contingent bodily injury, and first- and third-party property damage due to cyber events
• Coverage for insureds’ loss of business income as a result of a breach or attack; also applies to an outage due to a cyber event at a third party on whom the company relies for operations
• Coverage for extra expenses, including expenses associated with procuring products or services from alternate sources and overtime costs
• Expansion of the “system failure” definition to include intentional shutdowns to mitigate a cyberattack
• Coverage for expenses resulting from contractual penalties that an insured may be obligated to pay if a cyber event causes a job delay
• Expansion of the privacy breach, and security and privacy wrongful act definitions to include the wrongful retention of private information
• Expanded definitions of computer systems to include third-party hosted sites, building information modeling and design software
• Coverage for privacy claims due to the use of drones in mapping and surveying projects

Joe DePaul, head of FINEX Cyber/E&O, North America, Willis Towers Watson, said the coverage also includes access to Willis’ suite of risk assessment tools, including Cyber Quantified and Cyber Risk Profile Diagnostic, designed to help clients quantify their financial exposure and measure their cybersecurity posture, respectively.

Topics Cyber New Markets Construction Willis Towers Watson