Recently, how many times have you ordered gifts on-line for family members or friends? Perhaps you shopped on Amazon, purchased holiday cards via Walgreens or Walmart, ordered a new TV from Best Buy, or selected a Christmas tree and decorations from Target. Over Black Friday or Cyber Monday it could be you shared much identifying information with your favorite retailer or as a business owner you gathered pertinent information from your customers. Do you know how to protect this information from a cyber-attack? Consider Cyber Liability Insurance and keep your business safe, while protecting your customer’s information.
Cyber Attacks in the news…
According to CISCO, “A cyberattack is a malicious and deliberate attempt by an individual or organization to breach the information system of another individual or organization. Usually, the attacker seeks some type of benefit from disrupting the victim’s network.” In just the past few weeks, we’ve read headlines about the City of New Orleans declaring a state of emergency following a cyber-attack. Additionally, the Epilepsy Foundation was targeted with a cyber attack, while VISA warned about a rise in point of sale (POS) cyber attacks at gas stations and our U.S. Senators introduced K-12 Cybersecurity Act of 2019 to “further protect our schools, students and educators, and give them the resources they need to stay safe.”
Cyber Liability Insurance defined
The International Risk Management Institute (IRMI) offers the following definition for Cyber Liability Insurance:
“…cyber and privacy policies cover a business’ liability for a data breach in which the firm’s customers’ personal information, such as Social Security or credit card numbers, is exposed or stolen by a hacker or other criminal who has gained access to the firm’s electronic network. The policies cover a variety of expenses associated with data breaches, including: notification costs, credit monitoring, costs to defend claims by state regulators, fines and penalties, and loss resulting from identity theft…”
Our John Bailey Company team working with Affenix created a program for Data Breach Insurance and Cyber Liability. Our experts are dedicated to “Insuring the Digital World.” This new specialized insurance program offers coverage for businesses with HIPAA information, personal identifiable information, and credit card info. Affenix, which only works in the cyber tech space, poses the following questions for one to determine if their business needs Cyber Liability Insurance:
- Do you store or have access to social security numbers, credit cards, health information, or bank accounts numbers?
- Do have access or store confidential information for your clients?
- Does your business have a website or social media account?
A more general and basic question is “will your company survive a breach?”
So why don’t some companies buy Cyber Liability Insurance?
Good question, don’t you think? It so happens the Insurance Information Institute (III) and J.D. Power wanted to know why small companies are reluctant to purchase Cyber Liability Insurance. Together they surveyed more than 500 small business leaders, as well as insurance service providers and insurers. In October they released the 2019 Small-Business Cyber Insurance and Security Spotlight Survey. The 12-page report is informative, and we encourage our current and future business owner clients to read the results of the survey in its entirety. In 2019 the following are the top reasons some companies don’t buy Cyber Liability Insurance:
- Costs too much
- Risk profile doesn’t warrant coverage
- Risks handled sufficiently internally
- Too many exclusions
If you are a business owner, it is important to understand your cyber risks. Evaluate your staff training, update your software, back-up your files and store them off-site, investigate firewalls and antivirus technology, and create a data breach plan.
Finally, contact your insurance broker
As 2019 comes to a close, we would like to discuss your business insurance coverage and help you determine how best to approach cyber liability insurance. We stand by our mission statement: John Bailey Company is an independent insurance agency; we solve problems, provide protection, and generate opportunities for our clients by creating insurance solutions.
Let’s start the conversation. Call us today and we will work with you to insure a great life.