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Get the Facts on Cyber: What You Need to Know to Financially Protect Your Business

Two scenarios every business owner should be concerned about are data security privacy breaches and malicious attacks on network systems. These events can happen together or separately, and the damage can be devastating.

Data security privacy breaches involve the compromise of:

·         Credit card information

·         Personal health information

·         Customer or employee data

·         Personal financial information

·         Business information of others

Malicious attacks via executable codes, scripts, and other software can infect your network with:

·         Viruses

·         Worms and Trojan horses

·         Ransomware

·         Spyware

·         Adware and scareware

These events can be triggered by a variety of incidents, such as:

  • Lost/stolen laptops, smartphones, or external storage devices (i.e. thumb drives)
  • Improper disposal of paper records and computer equipment
  • Computer hacking
  • Employee misuse or phishing attacks
  • Vendor negligence or missteps

Most typical insurance policies (general liability and property insurance) provide very limited or no coverage for data security privacy breaches or malicious attacks. Your business can be exposed to significant fines, penalties, replacement and repair costs, crisis management fees, and a very expensive client notification process, all at a time when your organization is at a very high risk for loss of business. Cyber liability insurance coverage is essential to any company’s overall business protection plan.

A cyber liability policy can offer broad coverage of the expenses associated with an incident, including:

  • Compliance with data breach notification laws
  • Securing legal counsel to advise on incident response
  • Providing credit file monitoring to victims of a breach
  • Paying regulatory defense and penalties from privacy law violations
  • Contracting with outside technology consultants to repair infected systems and networks
  • Business losses attributable to network congestion or outage
  • Legal defense and judgement costs associated with a lawsuit

Ready to explore cyber liability for your business? Contact the knowledgeable insurance advisors at Hilb Group (formerly New Agency Partners) and they will guide you through the process. Give us a call today at 973-588-1800!

All insurance policies are different. Be sure to review your insurance policy for specific information about coverages available to you. Nothing in this post is meant to suggest a guarantee of coverage.