I want to ask you to picture where your company’s business records are kept. Employee files, customer files, case files, receipts, purchases, invoices, banking information, website and social media information; every document that pertains to the running of your company. I would wager that most of it, if not all of it, is held in digital databases through multiple programs and cloud spaces online.
Now, imagine an unauthorized user stealing these records and holding them hostage for half a million dollars. This is a very real occurrence that happens to companies every day all over the globe.
In a recent cost estimate from Florida Trend magazine, the average of consultation fees alone for a cyber liability panel is $8600. This is before taking into consideration operational disruption or destruction, lost value of customer relationships, lost revenue, and loss of intellectual property. According to a study by NetDiligence, the average incident cost of a ransomware attack raised from $167k in 2018 to $275k in 2019.
Beyond the potential losses are specific steps that a company must take in the aftermath of a cyberattack, including:
– Notifying customers and clients of the breach (a legal requirement in most states).
– Restoring your business’ website to working order.
– Dealing with extortion attempts
– Paying damages to clients, customers, and suppliers who lose out because of your breach.
That’s where a cyber liability insurance policy provided by Barnard Donegan Insurance can help your business cover the expenses of a cyber hack and data breach. Some commercial cyber liability policies cover loss of business while your systems are compromised or unavailable. There’s even coverage against inadvertently breaching somebody else’s copyright.
Other coverages can include:
– Third-party coverage: protecting you in the event of a lawsuit brought by a customer or partner for the data breach
– Regulatory claim coverage: protection in response to proceedings related to state disclosure laws and other governmental actions.
– Ransom coverage: coverage for ransom and cyber extortion to help cover the cost of ransom to regain control of network systems.
– …And more.
Cyber liability insurance can also help reduce potential risks. Your insurers will talk through your current cyber defenses and identify potential weaknesses that you need to plug. This includes reviewing file encryption practices and leak sites and what programs you have in place to guard against hackers.
Take to a BDI agent today to tailor a policy to your business needs.
BDI. Insurance advisors you can trust.
