Today’s business environment is full of online threats: cyber attacks, identity theft, ransomware, denial of service attacks, phishing and bank fraud to name a few. If you use the internet or electronic storage for sensitive data you should consider protecting your business with a good cyber liability insurance policy that provides important financial protections against a range of different risks.

If you read our last blog post, you may have begun considering how vulnerable your business is to a cyber-attack and how badly a breach could affect your business. You may have even weighed the importance of having a liability-protection plan in place.

Further Reading: Cyber Liability and Business Today

Remember: You are not getting full coverage if you have a cyber liability policy that only addresses the breach and what to do after it occurs. Proactive network security and privacy protection are just as important when considering any policy or business procedure.

What are the key components of a comprehensive Cyber Liability policy?

1. Data Loss & System Damage. Your current property policy may cover damage to computer hardware but not the data stored on it. Make sure your cyber liability policy covers the valuable and sensitive data.
2. Business Interruption. Protect your company from loss of revenue from downtime after a hack, denial of service, virus, etc. that causes a temporary or long-term shutdown in your operations.
3. Notification Expenses. Almost every state has notification requirements that mandate that your company must disclose any breach to parties whose private information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by a person without valid authorization. You may also have to provide ongoing credit monitoring. This could generate significant expenses to your organization.
4. PR/Crisis Management. If you’ve experienced a security breach, been out of business for a period of time, and notified thousands of clients and vendors of the breach, you may need to hire a PR firm to do some marketing and public relations to minimize the damage to your brand and reputation.
5. Content Liability. This provision covers your business from copyright and other IP claims, slander and invasion of privacy regarding anything associated with the content of your website, blog or other web presence.
6. Regulatory Investigation Expense. With the new notification laws having been enacted and privacy legislation constantly changing, there is always the chance that you could get a knock on the door from a friendly civil servant. Most policies exclude governmental or regulatory investigation costs. Bummer. Make sure your cyber liability policy includes it. 

A good insurance company should be working for you with one focus: getting you back in business quickly.

The coverage provisions available in cyber liability insurance policies can be confusing, but it is important for every business with sensitive customer data and/or a presence on the internet to be proactive about protection from cyber attacks.

Join us for a free webinar on Thursday, April 20^th at 2:00 pm EST. We’ll elaborate further on these key coverages and explore what to look for when deciding on the right protection for your business.