Cyber Liability Insurance Can Save the Day…and Your Business
If you feel like no company is safe from cyberattacks, you’re right. Last year, heavy hitters like Equifax, Yahoo and even the federal government were victims of hackers. If businesses with extensive resources and security measures are at risk, how can smaller businesses hope to protect themselves?
One answer lies in cyber liability insurance. In addition to doing your due diligence to employ the latest data protection measures, you should also assume that at some point, your business will have a data breach. For many businesses, this can be a death knell.
The High Costs of Recovering from Cyberattacks
Small businesses can be prime targets as they don’t typically have the resources of large companies, but no company is immune. If your business handles any degree of sensitive customer information—from credit card numbers to medical data—a data breach can be catastrophic.
Recovery includes the costs of:
- Legal fees
- Investigation
- Customer notification
- Data recovery
- Reputation management
- Downtime costs
Without the right insurance, these costs can easily sink a business.
Types of Cyber Liability Insurance
There are two basic types of cyber liability insurance. Your company may need only one or a combination of the two.
The first focuses on first-party responses and covers:
- Legal and related services to identify an actual breach and costs associated with regulatory compliance
- Addressing customer service needs, like credit monitoring
- Communications and public relations for crisis management
- Downtime costs
- Costs for labor to address the issue
The second covers third party defense and liability, including:
- Settlements against your company
- Copyright infringement
- Network security
- Privacy liability
Business liability insurance typically does not include cyber liability protection. Deciding the type of coverage you need for your company takes several factors into account, such as your industry, the type of business, and the sensitivity of the information you maintain. Contact us to set up an appointment, and we’ll tailor coverage for your specific business needs.