As technology becomes increasingly important for successful business operations, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) promises much stricter penalties for lax data security, the value of a strong cyber-insurance policy will continue to grow. No matter your business’ size, location or industry, the nature of the modern business world exposes you to the cyber-threats. A cyber-attack not only threatens your finances and disrupts your operations, it also tarnishes your reputation. To protect your business from the devastating fallout of a cyber-attack, it’s vital that you protect yourself with a robust cyber-insurance policy.
Cyber-insurance policies are created to suit your needs and offer a number of important benefits, which may include the following:
Business interruption loss
If your organisation experiences an IT failure or cyber-attack that disrupts you business operations, your insurer may cover your loss of income during the interruption. Increased costs to your business operations in the aftermath of a cyber-attack may also be covered.
Privacy breach costs
Policies will either have a single clause or be split into two separate clauses; breach costs and privacy liability. A breach cost clause provides cover for costs that arise from dealing with a security breach, such as notifying customers. A privacy liability clause provides cover for privacy infringement claims and associated legal costs in the event of a breach, which is critical for all organisations that handle or store personal information.
Cyber-extortion
Your policy may cover you in the that your organisation is infected by ransomware or any other malicious software that attempts to seize control of, and withhold access to, your operational personal data until a fee is paid. Last year the frequency of such attacks on businesses rose 50% according to the BBC.
Digital asset replacement expenses
In the event that your organisation’s digital assets are lost, corrupted or altered in any way by a cyber-criminal, your policy may cover the costs.
Media liability
In the event that a libel, slander, defamation or infringement of intellectual property rights claim is bough against your organisation as a result of your digital media presence, your policy may cover you.
Forensic support
This provides your organisation with near immediate 24/7 support from cyber-specialists following a hack or data breach.
Reputational damage
Your policy may recoup lost profits directly attributable to cyber-attacks.
Management liability
In this era of increased executive accountability and transparency, your policy may cover costs associated with defending senior management from cyber-attack fallout.
Incident Response Support
The first 48 hours of an incident are the most critical, and are where business leaders can feel the most vulnerable. When you are on that cliff edge, the support of a range of experts who know instinctively what the right actions and decisions are can be invaluable. A number of new cyber insurance providers now offer a full support package for incident response so that you will always be in good hands – we’ve had clients who tell us that this support is more valuable than the insurance itself!
For more information please contact us on 0330 056 3665 or at [email protected] and our experts will be happy to help.