Cyber Liability Insurance.
Chances are, you've been hearing stories of cyber attacks more than ever. Since many businesses are operated and administered digitally, they are constantly exposed to cyber threats. Think of all the emails, transactions, confidential data and other sensitive information stored in cyberspace.
By now, you're probably familiar with the companies that fell victim to major data breaches such as: Home Depot, JP Morgan, Anthem, Target, Sony, TJ Max, Yahoo, eBay and most recently, Google Docs.
There are even more dangerous hacks that can impact consumers and business owners alike. Can you take a guess?
What you will learn:
- Which cyber attacks should you be afraid of?
- How cyber attacks impact small businesses
- What is cyber liability insurance?
- Video: Cyber Liability Insurance in 60 Seconds
- How to get cyber security coverage
Which Cyber Attacks Should You Really Fear?
It's not the major breaches affecting your credit card company or local retail store that should scare you into taking action. Instead, it's the widespread type of cyber attacks being unleashed on small businesses.
Cyber Attacks on Small Businesses.
A recent report by SmallBizTrends found that 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses. According to Symantec, cyber attacks on small businesses rose by 300% in 2012 from the previous year.
Why small businesses are targets - explained by the world's #1 Tech Media company:
"Small & midsized businesses are now preferred targets for cyber criminals. Not because they're lucrative prizes individually, but because automation makes it easy to attack them by the thousands and far too many of them are easy targets."
- Taylor Armerding | International Data Group (IDG)
All it takes is a misplaced laptop/phone or even opening an innocent-looking email to create huge financial consequences for your company.
What's even worse is staying idle, ignoring the exposures simply because "it will never happen to me." Don't be that decision maker!
So what is Cyber Liability Insurance?
Businesses invest in cybersecurity coverage to mitigate losses from a wide range of cyber attacks such as data breaches and network damage. Investing in cyber liability insurance helps companies survive cyber attacks by paying for recovery expenses, including:
- First-party damages
- Financial damages
- Loss of own data
- Third-party damages
- Lawsuits or any financial losses linked to the breach
WATCH: Cyber Liability Insurance in 60 Seconds.
According to Property Casualty 360, 62% of all data breaches target small to mid-sized companies, many which do not have strong defenses against cyber attackers.
How to Obtain Cyber Security Coverage.
According to a Manta survey published in a CNBC report on cyber liability, 87% of small business owners don't feel they're at risk of a cybersecurity attack. The reluctance to seek cyber security coverage is exactly why hackers target small businesses. They're defenseless!
If you decided to invest in cyber liability coverage, here's a list of information your agent or broker will typically ask (or simply ask for our help):
- Business POC: Who is responsible for network security?
- Sensitive Data: What types of sensitive data do you store on your computer system? (SSN, Credit Card info, etc.) Is it data encrypted?
- Access: How do you control access to sensitive data?
- Recovery: Do you have a recovery plan you would follow in the event of the incident?
- Remote Access: Do customers or employees access your system remotely? If so, what security is in place to authenticate users?
- Data Backup and Storage: Do you back up your data daily? Where are the backups stored?
- Virus Scan: Do you have proper firewall and virus scan for your emails, portable devices and downloaded data?
