Cyber Insurance and You
Business Cyber Insurance is something you NEED.
Small Business Cyber Insurance is often something people associate with large technology companies. However, it’s the smaller businesses that are more likely to become victims. When you don’t have your own IT department or expert on the team, it can quickly become a problem.
Cyber crime can cause significant issues like business interruption and trade credit issues. They might be fairly obvious and business cyber insurance might already be on your radar. However, people often assume that criminals are after bank account details or to get money through blackmail. Malware, hostage-ware and viruses are some ways that a cyber attack can bring down your business. Motivations for cyber crime are not always obvious. Their reasons might not have anything to do with your particular operation. You might just be a casualty of their wider plan.
Being affected by someone you can’t see and finding that they have control of your systems is unsettling and distressing. This is made even worse if tech isn’t your strong point. When that happens, you’re best in the hands of specialists to close the gap in your cyber security cover.
Cyber Insurance doesn’t just protect YOU.
That hacking problem can be even more serious if you store customer information. Most businesses keep customer information for a number of reasons. It can be to generate new business or to network for new contacts. You may store names, emails, phone numbers, birthdays and the details of their families. Even though it’s not recommended without extremely strong security, some businesses hold credit card information.
The more information you hold about your customers, the greater your liability could be if it gets stolen. Another thing to think about is whether or not you will realise when it has been exposed. When you lose information relating to someone else’s personal life, you are liable. It can be as simple as pressing send on an email to the wrong recipient or as complicated as a major hack. Cover for Business Cyber Insurance can be tailored to every business and takes into account your level of cyber risk management. A quote will also include the likely cost of a lawsuit.
The average cost cyber insurance to a small or medium sized of a significant insurance against cyber attack can be over $250k. That’s way more than most businesses can afford at that time in their lifecycle.
Why am I considered liable?
As the owner, if you suffer a business cyber attack, you will be held directly responsible for the safety of data. It doesn’t matter who sent the email or who left their firewall down. It doesn’t matter who used an un authorised laptop to enter the business framework. If data is stored by your business, in whatever way, if security is breached, you are liable. Australia has extremely strong laws about storage and security of personal data. Because of this, if you use technology and if you have customers, you need insurance. That means Business Cyber Insurance is essential to almost everyone.
You might wonder why personal data is so important. Well, identity theft causes personal damage to peoples’ credit ratings every single day. Identity theft can also affect other businesses and financial institutions, affecting your business credibility. The simple sharing of an address without permission can also cause problems which can end up in court. When you consider the number of restraining and anti-violence orders it might suddenly make sense why this is important.
Am I a risk professional?
The answer is probably NO. You almost certainly have no idea how effective your IT system security is. Let’s be completely honest, nor do we. We’re insurance and risk experts and you are experts at making coffee or being an accountant, or managing events. That’s why we partner with the best in the industry. There are specialist insurance agencies and policies out there that cover you from the moment you start your business adventure to when you go public with stock.
When something is important to you, you need to know that you are dealing with experienced professionals. It’s the same for us. We at Sure Insure have Business Cyber Insurance of our own. Would you like us to lose your information? Probably not. Would you be upset if we did? Almost certainly.
If you know more about cyber insurance cost, then you can Contact Sure Insure today to talk through areas that are of concern (and maybe find some new ones).
