Don’t get lost in Cyber Space

More and more businesses are getting in contact regarding Cyber liability insurance, there is a great deal of interest about this particular risk, however there is also a great deal of misconception regarding the cover available.
Senior managers in three-quarters (73%) of micro/small businesses say that cyber security is a high priority, with over two-fifths (45%) of all micro/small businesses having identified a cyber security breach or attack in the last year. Of the micro/small businesses that consider it a low priority, over a third (35%) have nonetheless identified a breach.
As an independent broker we are best placed to advise on a number of different policy types and cover limits available to the business community, however the biggest problem to-date is that most businesses will assume that they already have cover in force, when in fact they don’t.
Cyber liability will be a general exclusion for most, if not all business insurance policies and with the advent of the new “General Data Protection Regulations” (GDPR), I would advise any business, large or small to review their insurance arrangements.
Currently the is very little penetration within the SME market place for Cyber liability insurance, however it is exactly those businesses that are at greater risk.
Cyber liability insurance can protect you and your business including employees (1st party) and your supplier and customer chain(3rd party) in the event that you experience a data breach and it is not only restricted to malicious events, accidental data loss can also be included.
Whilst there are restrictions and limitations for social engineering or invoice fraud, this would be considered financial crime, the Cyber liability cover is there to protect your reputation and any costs associated with getting your business back to normal following a “breach” including consequential loss.
Think of it as an “emergency red button response”, so that whilst someone else will contain the breach and manage the fall-out, you continue to run your business with limited impact.