Wawanesa Launches Personal Cyber Protection Portfolio in Canada

Comprehensive digital-age personal insurance for Canadian homeowners and home-based businesses now available

WINNIPEG, Dec. 20, 2017 /CNW/ - The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company (Wawanesa), one of the largest Canadian property and casualty insurers, is launching a new portfolio of innovative cyber protection insurance products for Canadian homeowners and home-based businesses.

Effective January 1, 2018, Wawanesa will be one of the first major insurance companies in Canada to offer a personal cyber product on a mass market basis. The cyber protection portfolio, currently unmatched in its comprehensiveness goes beyond any insurance offered today to meet individual consumers' evolving needs and preferences.  It includes protection for:

• Cyber-attack: recovery of data and restoration of systems that have been lost or damaged;
  
  
• Cyber extortion: payments and assistance in responding to demands to damage, disable, deny access to or disseminate content from devices, systems or data;
  
  
• Online fraud: coverage for scams that result in a direct financial loss to the policyholder and;
  
  
• Data breach: payment for services if third-party private person data entrusted to a household resident is breached.

"We're committed to being an industry leader – and innovator – in providing coverages that help Canadians protect themselves and their digital connections," said Keith Hartry, Wawanesa's Chief Operating Officer. "As the world becomes more interconnected and criminals become both more invasive and sophisticated, we're ready to safe-guard anyone who operates a connected home device, stores information electronically and accesses data online." 

Modern life is full of cyber risks and many homeowners or home-based business owners don't realize this until it's too late.

According to Statistics Canada, cyber-crime grew by 30% in 2016. The cost to the Canadian economy is estimated between $3 billion and $5 billion a year. 

"Cyber-crime is not only increasing, it's getting much harder to stop," added Hartry. "And Canadians are looking for solutions that protect them and ultimately provide peace of mind.  And that's what our portfolio is built to do."

For information about the new cyber protection visit https://www.wawanesa.com/personalcyber/. 

About The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
Wawanesa Mutual Insurance is one of the largest property and casualty insurers in Canada with $3 billion in annual revenues and assets of more than $9 billion. Wawanesa Mutual, founded in 1896 with executive offices in Winnipeg, is the parent company of Wawanesa General, which offers property and casualty insurance in California and Oregon, and Wawanesa Life, which distributes life insurance products and services throughout Canada. With over 3,000 employees, Wawanesa proudly serves over two million policyholders through nine regional offices and 41 service offices in Canada and the United States.  Wawanesa actively gives back to organizations that strengthen communities where it operates, donating well above internationally recognized benchmarks for excellence in corporate philanthropy. 

SOURCE The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company

For further information: David Hultin, Senior Communications Specialist, The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company, 1-844-946-6282, [email protected]