Cyber attacks are quickly becoming one of the most troubling obstacles that companies have to overcome.
That’s why cyber insurance is an essential part of protecting your business from digital threats.
In this newsletter, I’ll take a closer look at the importance of cyber insurance and how you can seek help.
❓ Firstly, what is cyber insurance?
Cyber insurance is designed to protect your business from internet-based risks. It also aims to keep you safe from threats related to IT infrastructure and activities.
It’s not just a scare tactic that gets a bad rap; it’s a legitimate program that involves many departments of your business.
And, at the end of the day, it’s your backup plan to protect your business from real-world risks that are only getting worse.
❓ Why is cyber insurance so important?
In my first article, I spoke about some of the biggest cyber security risks you should watch out for.
Internet-based crime is one of the fastest-growing security threats in the United States. And the losses continue to grow too.
In fact, in just four short years, financial losses due to cybercrime increased from $1.4 billion to $6.9 billion!
That’s why every business must be prepared and protected.
Having a cyber insurance policy not only helps protect your finances if an incident occurs, but also gives you access to a group of experts that specialize in keeping your business safe.
They can help you recover the costs of what was lost so you can get back to business as quickly as possible.
🔒 3 types of cyber insurance you should know about
Different businesses have different needs. Knowing which cyber insurance options are available can help you make the right choices to protect your business.
It’s also recommended to talk to your insurance provider to ensure you’re getting a policy that is right for your business.
Below, I’ll share the three common types of cyber insurance.
Cybertheft insurance
As more and more businesses start to store sensitive data online, the risk of cyber theft becomes bigger.
Businesses of all sizes can become victims of cybertheft, and no company is too small to invest in cyber insurance.
Cybertheft insurance protects businesses from financial losses caused by digital theft. This type of insurance can be tailored to fit a number of scenarios including:
👮 First-party cybertheft.
👮 Embezzlement scams.
👮 Payroll redirection.
👮 Gift card scams.
If there’s even a remote chance that your business can suffer from a data breach, ensure that you have cyber theft insurance as soon as possible.
Cyber liability insurance
Cyber liability is a vital tool, especially for smaller businesses that often struggle to recover from financial losses after a security breach.
This type of insurance provides third-party coverage for:
🛠️ Damages and losses.
🛠️ Data breaches.
🛠️ Regulatory penalties.
🛠️ Credit monitoring.
🛠️ Lawsuits.
This type of insurance can help your business recover and move forward, even if you’ve fallen victim to a severe data breach.
Cyber extortion insurance or ransomware insurance
Cyber extortion insurance protects businesses of any size from ransomware attacks—malicious software designed to hack computers and block access until an amount of money is paid.
Extortion insurance can:
💰Cover the cost of ransom payments.
💰Cover recover expenses.
💰 Prevent business interruptions.
💰Provide access to a team of cyber security experts that can help you negotiate with hackers.
💰Cover forensics to help track ransomware.
Although a ransomware attack can still be successful, even with all of the security measures in place, cyber insurance is there to help you bounce back.
It also helps to reduce the financial impact that ransomware attacks can have on your business.
⛔ Prevent being denied a cyber insurance payout
Often, businesses will be denied their cyber insurance payouts.
This usually happens when businesses don’t have the correct coverage for a certain cyberattack or are dishonest about their cyber security behavior.
That’s why it’s important to carefully review your policy to protect your business properly.
Let’s take a look at a few more steps you can take to prevent losing your payout.
✅ Adhere to the terms of your cyber policy
Once you’ve received your cyber insurance policy, make sure you go through it and understand its conditions.
Some policies want you to take certain steps to maintain cyber security for your business, like:
⦁ Training employees.
⦁ Implementing minimum risk controls.
⦁ Putting anti-virus software in place.
⦁ Making backups of important data.
These steps aren’t just suggestions, they are crucial rules for adhering to the terms of your insurance policy—so make sure you do them!
Not only will they help you follow your policy but they are also good practices to implement for protecting your business, no matter what.
If you fail to implement these terms, you may be denied a payout and suffer the consequences.
If you’re unsure about the terms of your following, feel free to reach out to me to chat through it.
✅ Choose the correct plan for your business needs
You can forget about a payout if you fall victim to a cyber incident that falls outside your insurance policy.
For example, if you are the victim of a ransomware attack but only have insurance for cyber theft, you won’t be able to claim any ransom money.
In this case, you would need to have cyber extortion insurance to ensure a payout.
If you read our incident response plan article, you’ll know that identifying what your business needs to protect is an important first step.
This rings true for choosing your cyber insurance plan as well.
Make sure you know your business’s risks and then find a plan that can protect you if those risks become a reality.
If you’re unsure, you can speak to an IT service provider like Sorbis to help.
✅ Be honest about your business’s cyber security posture
Similar to adhering to your insurance policy’s terms is being honest about your cyber security posture.
This means being honest about the risk-mitigating steps that you’ve actually put in place and using every day.
These include cybersecurity controls and protocols that can predict and prevent cyber threats.
For example, if your policy stipulates that you have to implement firewalls or multifactor authentication (MFA) across your business’s systems, don’t just put it in place for certain servers.
When you file an insurance claim, the company will scrutinize your cyber security practices to make sure you’ve taken the necessary steps to prevent an attack.
If they see that you’ve neglected cyber security protocols, you’ll be denied a payout.
Not only this, but the insurance company may also terminate your policy, making it harder to get another one in the future.
Here are some more tips to ensure an honest posture:
🔍Always answer your applications honestly.
🔍 Note the questions or areas where you may need to implement protocols.
🔍 Challenge the underwriter on questions you are not clear on. It is important that everyone is on the same page and the questions are answered and honestly.
❓ How can an IT service provider help?
Your IT partner should be there to help you navigate the finer details of your insurance policy and ensure that you get the protection your business needs.
Here’s how they can do that:
🧑💻 Ensure that your business’s technology is aligned to a framework that insurance companies use to create their policies.
🧑💻 Auditing your existing cyber security protocols and ensuring compliance with insurance policies.
🧑💻 Helping you to choose the right coverage for your business.
🧑💻 Regularly check your systems and protocols to ensure compliance with industry regulations and your cyber insurance policy.
❓How does Sorbis assist with cyber insurance?
We work to stay one step ahead at all times.
Our programs cover many of the items the insurance carriers are looking for and more.
Not only that but we also use reporting tools to monitor and keep backups of our client’s data in the event of a breach.
We’ll work with your business to identify your protection needs and where you may be vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Then we’ll help you to find the best insurance policy for your business as well as help you implement the stipulated protocols.
Our goal is to protect your business from any cyber incident, and in the event an incident occurs, you’ll be ready to recover and get back to business.
🔒 Keep your business safe with Sorbis
Running a business can be challenging and overwhelming at times. Cyber security and insurance are often completely forgotten until it’s too late.
At Sorbis, we know that getting started is the hardest part. That’s why we want to help.
Our team of industry experts is ready to help you protect your business by:
✅ Providing weekly reports that allow us to audit the business’s mailboxes for threats.
✅ Offering cyber security awareness training to you and your team to help lower the risk of an attack.
✅ Creating a personalized plan to protect against phishing scams and other incidents.
✅ Creating and testing backups of your data on a regular basis.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me, Gene, as soon as possible. You can reach out via email at gaugust@sorbis.com.
You can also check out any of my other articles—they’ve been carefully constructed to educate you and to help keep you safe.
