Now, get insured against Facebook hacking

A UK-based information privacy company has launched Britain's first social media insurance, which would protect web users against reputational damage, account hacking and ID theft, in case their social site accounts are hacked.

Hacking of users accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites are quite common, where another user logs in and posts derogatory or offensive messages, and can cause huge damage to an individual or business's image.

Justin Basini, CEO of the company providing the service, ALLOW, said that insurance "perhaps wouldn't have been needed a few years ago."

"That's all changed now. Every internet user faces a certain level of risk that one day a digital criminal will target them or that they will suffer damage to their reputation," the Daily Mail quoted Basini, as saying.

The cover, at a cost of 3.99 pounds a month, will pay for legal advice and support if someone suffers an online attack and seeks some form of redress.

The insurance includes the cost of disabling accounts, suppressing offensive material and stopping any legal action triggered by hacking, for example if a hacker posts illegal material under a victim's name, the paper said.

The insurance is available via the ALLOW Protect service, which also allows users to monitor how their personal data is used online, it added.