Protect the Intangible with Cyber Insurance
Q: What is cyber insurance?
A: Cyber insurance keeps your business in business when it has been hacked. It is usually not the cyberattack or incident that puts many small businesses out of business; it’s the cost of recovering from one.
Any business can experience a cyberattack or data breach, and it can happen in many different ways. Your system can be infected by ransomware or an employee can leave their laptop at a restaurant. The results can be devastating.
There are many different expenses that come with a cyberattack. There is the cost of getting your data recovered as well as getting your website and systems back up and running. There are also the costs of the loss of income if the attack stopped your business from running, informing your affected clients and the PR to repair a damaged reputation. In the event you are sued for losing your clients’ data, you will have to pay for legal fees and any damages you are found liable for. Cyber insurance covers these expenses, so you do not have to.
Q: Who needs cyber insurance?
A: Some people may think a cyber event will not happen to them, that their business is too small and not a target for cyber criminals. However, about 85 percent of all cyberattacks are on small businesses. If you store clients’ data electronically, accept credit or debit cards, have a website or use email, then you probably need
cyber insurance.
Q: What does cyber insurance cover?
A: Cyber policies can vary with coverage and offer many options. Coverage may include the cost of investigating a data breach, legal fees and compensation if you are sued for losing someone’s data and the cost to pay for credit monitoring for customers whose personal data has been stolen.
It can also cover payment of government penalties or fines; the cost of restoring your data, systems or website; lost income and extra expense if your business was stopped by cyberattack; and cost of lost income due to cyber phishing or if your systems are held
by ransomware.
Q: How much does cyber insurance cost?
A: The cost for each business is different and varies based on what coverage you purchase. However, compared to experiencing a data breach, the cost of cyber insurance is very little. ■
Written by: Lori Anne Harris
Lori Anne Harris has almost 35 years of experience in the employee benefits field with a top-tier health insurer before opening her own insurance agency, HMS Agency, Inc., a NYS Certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise, over 21 years ago. Lori Anne recently received her GBA (Group Benefit Associate) a CEBS/Wharton School specialty designation and is a licensed life, accident/health agent and property/casualty broker. She is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University.. She is an active member of the National Association of Healthcare Underwriters Women’s President Organization, and serves on the board of the Ellis Hospital Foundation, and Girls on the Run.
