Specialist insurer Beazley has rolled out an affirmative cyber insurance policy aimed at strengthening defences aboard luxury yachts.

Launched today, the Cyber Defence for Superyachts policy provides the following:

• Affirmative service-led product to cover physical or threatened damage of the vessel
• Additional cover for loss of use of vessel and, by endorsement, cover for extortion
• Defined cyber event peril, including malicious and non-malicious events, but excluding crew negligence
• Service limits for temporary replacement yacht, emergency accommodation, privacy crises response
• Post-bind risk assessment preparation services
• Post-event 24-hour response services, including forensic investigation and restitution
• $25 million (approximately £18 million) aggregate policy limit
• Crew training provided in partnership with Warsash Maritime School, part of Solent University

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The cover was designed by Beazley’s underwriting, claims, risk, and breach response specialists.

“Following guidelines introduced this year by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the onus is now greater on vessel owners and operators to demonstrate robust cyber risk management and to understand, assess, and manage risk to improve overall operational resilience in shipping,” said Richard Young, marine underwriter and head of hull at Beazley.

“Reducing the cyber threat to superyachts is at the heart of our policy, which provides a triple defence mechanism of preventative mitigation services, traditional asset indemnity and immediate response services to incidents,” he added.

Beazley has partnered with Cyber Prism, which will provide vessel cyber risk mitigation and preparedness services to assist in advancing security and ensure that owners and managers are aligning with IMO 2021 guidelines.