Cyber Insurance Australia sorted.
Scammers don't care that you swing a hammer for a living — they care about the $22,000 invoice sitting in your sent items. We sort cyber cover that protects your trade business when an email scam, ransomware attack or data breach lands on your doorstep.
Is Your Trade Business Actually Exposed?
Tick the ones that apply to you:
- You send invoices over email (Xero, MYOB or manual)
- You hold customer addresses, phone numbers or payment details
- You use a quoting or job management app (simPRO, ServiceM8, Tradify, AroFlo)
- You bank online and approve payments via phone or laptop
- You've got staff, apprentices or office help with email access
- You'd lose money if you couldn't quote, invoice or access files for a week
If you ticked 3 or more, you're exposed — and your public liability won't help you. Time to get it sorted.
What is cyber insurance for tradies?
Cyber insurance is a business insurance policy built to respond when a scammer, hacker or dodgy email costs you money. For Australian tradies, it usually covers invoice fraud (business email compromise), ransomware attacks, social engineering scams, stolen customer data, and the legal and IT costs that follow.
What makes it different from your other tradie insurance? Your public liability covers physical damage and injury. Your tools cover gets stolen gear back. Cyber cover is the only policy that responds when a scammer changes the BSB on your invoice and your client pays the wrong account — or when ransomware locks you out of your quoting software the day before a tender's due.
Get it wrong and one phishing email can wipe out a week's takings, your customer list, and your reputation in 24 hours.
Tradies We Cover for Cyber
If you send an invoice, hold a customer detail, or log into Xero — you're exposed. Here's who we sort cyber cover for every week:
Electricians
Plumbers
Builders
Carpenters
Painters
Roofers
Cleaners
All Other Trades
What Does Cyber Insurance Cover?
A proper cyber policy through ProTrades — placed primarily with Coalition, the world's largest dedicated cyber underwriter — covers four big areas. Miss one and you've got a hole in the bucket.
First-Party Cover
Pays for your business's own losses — forensic IT, restoring data, business interruption income, ransom payments (where legal), PR costs and customer notification expenses if data is exposed.
Third-Party Cover
Responds when someone else comes after you — customer lawsuits over a breach, regulatory fines (where insurable), Privacy Act 1988 response, and Notifiable Data Breaches scheme costs.
Crime & Social Engineering
The bit that responds to the $22,000 plumber story — money lost because you or a client were tricked into sending it, or a scammer redirected your invoice. Usually a sub-limit — read the wording.
24/7 Incident Response
With Coalition you get instant access to forensic IT, lawyers and PR the moment something goes wrong. For a tradie with no IT team, that's the difference between a 2-day disruption and a 2-week shutdown.
What Actually Costs Aussie Tradies Money
These aren't hypotheticals. Coalition's 2026 Cyber Claims Report tracks these exact incident types — and we see them on Aussie tradie policies every month. The dollar figures are indicative ranges based on industry claims data.
Invoice BSB Swap
A Melbourne plumber on our books had his invoice intercepted by a scammer who switched the bank details. The client paid the "updated" invoice in good faith. $22,000 gone — no cyber cover, no recovery. He wore it personally. This is the single most common cyber claim type in Australia.
Ransomware Lockout
Your laptop, your phone, your quoting software — all locked up demanding payment. Coalition data shows ransomware was the most expensive cyber claim type in 2025, averaging $269,000 per incident. Ransom demands jumped 47% YoY.
Xero or MYOB Hack
Scammer gets your accounting login, changes supplier bank details, fakes invoices and diverts payroll. By the time you notice the irregularities, multiple payments have already left your account heading the wrong way.
Customer Data Breach
Names, addresses, payment details — every customer on your books exposed. Triggers Privacy Act 1988 obligations, Notifiable Data Breaches scheme costs, and potential third-party claims from affected customers.
Apprentice Clicks a Phishing Link
One bad click from an apprentice or office help can let a scammer into your email system. From there it's quiet observation, then invoice manipulation. Most cyber policies cover staff mistakes — but only if you've got the cover.
Fake Supplier Invoice
A scammer impersonates one of your regular suppliers — same logo, same job number, different BSB — and you pay. Funds transfer fraud claims like this one made up 27% of all cyber claims in 2025.
Business Email Compromise — The Tradie Killer
Business email compromise (BEC) is now the single biggest cyber incident type in Australia, accounting for 31% of all cyber claims in Coalition's 2026 report. It's also the one tradies get hit by most — because almost every tradie sends invoices over email.
A proper cyber policy responds to BEC events including:
- Money lost when an invoice BSB is switched and your client pays a scammer
- Funds transferred after a scammer impersonates a supplier or staff member
- Forensic IT to investigate how they got in and lock them out
- Legal advice on Privacy Act and breach notification obligations
- Customer communication and reputation management costs
- Lost income if your email or systems are offline during remediation
What Most Brokers Forget to Mention
Most cyber policies treat BEC and social engineering as a sub-limit — meaning the full policy limit doesn't apply. You might have $1M of cyber cover but only $50K for social engineering losses. Some policies also require you to have multi-factor authentication and call-back verification on bank detail changes.
We walk you through the sub-limits and conditions before a claim — not after.
What Does Cyber Cover Actually Cost?
There's no flat rate — it depends on turnover, the limit you want, how much customer data you hold, and your security setup. But here's a realistic starting point based on typical Australian tradies.
The One-Man Band
- $250K–$500K cyber limit
- BEC & social engineering cover
- Coalition incident response
- Same-day certificates
The Growing Trade Biz
- $1M cyber limit standard
- Higher BEC sub-limits
- Staff coverage included
- Business interruption cover
- Multi-system protection
The Full Operation
- $2M+ cyber limit
- Full crime & social engineering cover
- Third-party liability cover
- Regulatory & legal defence
- Bundled with management liability
Real talk: These are indicative starting ranges based on standard trade business risks. Your actual premium depends on revenue, claims history, the security controls you have in place (MFA, backups, staff training), and underwriter appetite at the time of quote. Get a proper quote and we'll give you a real number in writing.
Why Tradies Choose Us for Cyber
We're not a comparison website. We're not a call centre. We're Aussie brokers who specialise in tradie insurance — and we place cyber cover through Coalition, the world's largest dedicated cyber insurer, plus a panel of leading Australian underwriters.
Coalition-Backed Cover
We place most cyber cover with Coalition — the world's largest dedicated cyber insurer. That means better wordings, stronger incident response, and policies actually built for modern cyber threats.
Sub-Limits Explained
Every cyber policy has sub-limits buried in the wording — BEC, social engineering, ransomware. We walk you through them before a claim so you actually know where you stand.
Same-Day Certificates
Need a Certificate of Currency for a contract or principal builder? We'll sort it. Most COCs are out the door within hours during business days.
Real Brokers, Real Phones
No script-reading call centre. You deal with an actual Aussie broker who understands invoice fraud, ransomware sub-limits, and what your trade business actually needs.
What Tradies Say About Our Cyber Cover
"Had a scammer try to change my BSB on a $40K invoice. ProTrades had the cyber cover sorted weeks before — claim got paid, business kept running. Best call I ever made."
"Won a tier-1 builder contract and needed cyber cover by Friday. Shivonne had me sorted with a Certificate of Currency by lunchtime. Saved me the job."
"Other broker quoted me cyber with a $5K BEC sub-limit and didn't mention it. ProTrades found me proper cover with a real limit. Knew their stuff."
Cyber Insurance for Tradies — FAQs
Do Australian tradies need cyber insurance?
Yes. Any tradie who uses email, banks online, runs accounting software, or holds customer data is exposed to cyber risk. With business email compromise now the leading cyber claim type in Australia and average losses around $27,000, cyber insurance has shifted from optional to essential for trade businesses.
Is cyber insurance mandatory in Australia?
No, cyber insurance is not legally required in Australia. However, an increasing number of commercial contracts, government tenders, and tier-1 head contractor agreements now require contractors and subcontractors to hold cyber cover as a condition of working on the project.
Does my public liability insurance cover cyber attacks?
No. Public liability insurance covers third-party injury and property damage caused by your work — it does not respond to cyber losses, invoice fraud, ransomware, or data breaches. Cyber insurance is a completely separate policy.
How much does cyber insurance cost for a small trade business?
Premiums for sole traders and small trade businesses typically start from around $500 per year for entry-level limits, often a small fraction of what a single BEC or ransomware incident would cost out of pocket. Pricing depends on turnover, cover limit, and security setup. Call ProTrades on 1300 118 637 for a tailored figure.
What is business email compromise (BEC)?
Business email compromise is when a scammer gains access to or impersonates a business email account to trick the business, its clients, or its suppliers into transferring money or sensitive information. In Australia, BEC most often shows up as a fake or altered invoice with the BSB swapped. It's now the leading cyber incident type globally, making up 31% of all cyber claims in 2025.
Does cyber insurance cover ransom payments?
Generally yes — most cyber insurance policies in Australia, including those placed through Coalition, can cover ransom payments where it is legally permitted to pay them. The policy will also cover the negotiation, forensic investigation, and recovery costs that come with a ransomware event.
What's the difference between first-party and third-party cyber cover?
First-party cover pays for your business's own losses — data recovery, business interruption, ransom payments, IT forensics. Third-party cover pays when someone else (a customer, supplier, or regulator) takes action against you because of a breach. A good cyber policy includes both.
Do sole trader tradies need cyber insurance?
Yes — arguably more than larger businesses. Sole traders typically have less security infrastructure, no IT support, and a single bank account that handles all business revenue. One successful BEC attack can wipe out months of cash flow with no realistic way to recover it.
What happens if a scammer changes my invoice BSB and my customer pays them?
This is one of the most common cyber claims for Australian tradies. Without cyber insurance, you wear the loss personally — and you may still owe the work or refund the client. With cyber cover that includes social engineering / crime cover, the policy responds to the lost funds (subject to sub-limits and policy terms). This is exactly the scenario that cost one of our plumber clients $22,000.
Can I get a Certificate of Currency for cyber insurance?
Yes — once your cyber policy is bound, ProTrades can issue a Certificate of Currency the same day, ready to forward to a head contractor, principal builder, or government client requesting proof of cover.
How quickly can ProTrades get me cyber cover?
For most straightforward trade businesses, cyber cover can be quoted, bound, and certified within 24 to 48 hours. More complex risks (larger turnover, commercial contracts, prior cyber incidents) may need additional information from underwriters.
What's social engineering fraud?
Social engineering fraud is any scam where you (or your staff) are tricked into doing something — clicking a phishing link, sending money, sharing a password, or changing an invoice's bank details. It's the human side of cyber risk. It's how our plumber client lost $22,000.
Can my cyber policy cover staff mistakes?
Generally yes — most cyber policies respond regardless of whether the breach was caused by a malicious attack or an employee accidentally clicking a phishing email. This is a major reason cyber insurance is so valuable for tradies who employ apprentices, admin staff, or labourers.
Can I get cyber insurance in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth?
Yes — we arrange cyber insurance nationally across all Australian states and territories, including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra, plus all regional areas.
Real Cover. Real Brokers. No Call Centres.
Whether you're a sole-trader sparky or a multi-crew contractor — we'll tailor cyber cover that actually protects the modern way your trade business runs. Get a proper quote in writing from a real Aussie broker.
The information on this page is general information only and does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether this information is appropriate for you and refer to our Financial Services Guide. Before making any decision about a financial product, you should consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) available from the insurer.