Cyber Liability Insurance

What is Cyber Liability Insurance?

The sensitive customer data stored within company servers and in the cloud is vulnerable to attacks from hackers and other cyber criminals. Most people think only large corporations are in danger of cyber-crime attacks. But, all businesses that use computers connected to the Internet are at risk.

First Party Coverage – This coverage covers the business for forensic costs for determining how the client personal data was exposed, notification cost to inform your customers of the data breach required by most states, PR costs to help with the businesses reputation.  

Third Party Coverage – This coverage allows protection within the policy limits for lawsuits, penalties, and intellectual property.  When most data breaches occur, you might find your business in a lawsuit or being fined by a state or federal entity for failure to protect the customer personal data. 
 

What are the benefits of cyber liability insurance?

More than one-third of businesses experience a data breach each year. If a similar event happened at your business, would you be able to pay for the resulting damages?

Many cyber liability policies cover a variety of expenses associated with a cyberattack:

• Stolen data retrieval
• Reimbursement of fraudulent charges
• Identity protection services for customers at risk of identity theft
• Damage control for your business’ reputation
• Legal fees associated with the attack
• Forensics
• Data Breach notifications
• And other cleanup efforts

Cyber policies will vary from carrier to carrier so it is important that you read your policy and understand the coverage's.   Also, make sure you review any sub-limits that may be placed on your specific policy.  

A general liability policy often excludes losses incurred because of the Internet. A cyber liability policy can fill in that gap. It may be the difference between closing your business and making a comeback.

North Carolina data breach laws will require your business to pay the cost of notification and face potential penalties.  If your business has Personal Identifiable Information for customers in other states, you will be required to follow and adhere to their individual state laws.  

5 Things To Review In Your Cyber Policy 

1. Sub-limits - Most cyber policies will have sub-limits on certain coverage's.  Make sure you review the policy and ask about any sub-limits. 
2. Exclusions - Every policy has exclusions, you will need to review this section carefully to make sure a particular coverage is excluded. 
3. Requirements - Some cyber policies will require the client to abide by certain requirements for protecting their data.  If the policy states you must be compliant with a particular regulation, make sure you understand what your company must do to abide by the regulation.   Not being in compliance, could be a reason to deny coverage. 
4. Definitions - Read the definition page before reviewing the policy.  Make sure you understand how the policy defines each term so you can understand the policy. 
5. Coverage's Provided  - No cyber policy is the same as another.  Review each policy in detail and ask questions.  Policies will differ in coverage's offered, so reviewing each proposed policy is a must for your company.  

 

Who Should Purchase Cyber Liability Insurance?

Really any business that obtains personal information on their clients.  Information ranging from, Date of Birth, Social Security Numbers, Financial account numbers, Healthcare data, and in California even zip codes associate with a first name and last name of a client.   As you can tell this probably includes most businesses since most will accept credit cards and gather some form of personal information.

Municipalities, school systems, non-profits, and other businesses that may not have high levels of financial or personal information would also need cyber insurance to protect from ransomware and Denial of Service events.   

Get started today!

We can evaluate your business’s needs and find a policy that offers the best possible protection against cyber-crime.  Also remember that securing your data 

Give our office a call today and speak with an agent regarding cyber liability insurance. 
336 627 7037