Protect Yourself & Your Clients With Cyber Liability Insurance

In our ever growing digital age, large and small businesses throughout East TN and Southwest VA are equally at risk for data breaches, both internally and externally. What many business owners do not know, however, is that standard general liability policies do not cover losses associated with technology and Internet exposures.

At Bowery Insurance Services, we advise all businesses to consider cyber liability protection. Failing to consider this risk can be quite costly to business owners, regardless of size.

Cyber Breach Examples

Whether you are in the health care industry, the financial industry or other niche area, you are at risk for data breaches. Some of the more common issues that cyber liability insurance covers include:

• Intellectual property (IP) theft by an employee
• Cyber attack by a hacker
• Download or transmission of a virus, Trojan or other program
• Allegation of defamation or other personal injury as a result of a statement on your company’s website, internal email communication or other statement
• Breach of confidentiality through an unencrypted system

These examples are only the beginning of a long list of events this coverage protects your business against. From here, it is important to understand what costs this insurance covers.

Coverage Provided By Cyber Liability Insurance

In general, cyber liability insurance covers two general categories of protection:

• “First party” coverage: First party coverage, sometimes referred to as cybercrime coverage, covers out-of-pocket costs to keep your business running, including business interruption insurance, breach notification costs and reputation management costs, regulatory fines and penalties.
• “Third party” coverage: Third party coverage, most often referred to generally as cyber liability insurance, provides protection for costs related to legal liability stemming from a breach.

As mentioned before, the costs stated here will fall on your business if you do not have cyber insurance in place.

Ways To Keep Cyber Liability Premiums To A Minimum

We know business owners, especially small businesses, worry about adding a new insurance cost on top of existing business expenses. However, it is important to remember that one cyber breach can lead your company into bankruptcy.

While cyber liability coverage is generally affordable already, there are some simple steps you can take to decrease your risk, including:

• Encrypting information on your laptops. Did you know the average value of a lost laptop is nearly $50,000? You can cut that loss by at least $20,000 through encryption.
• Create Internet usage and social media policies. These policies allow you to identify what is important to you and what steps you and your employees must take to protect your company’s information.
• Set up a firewall to protect your network. Ensure your firewall equally protects internal and external networks, as well as computers, laptops and mobile devices.
• Learn how to create strong passwords. A weak password can welcome in a hacker faster than you realize. Create strong passwords (longer passwords, using upper and lowercase letters, numerals and symbols). Change your passwords on a regular basis.

Learn More About Cyber Liability Insurance For Your Business

Bowery Insurance Services offers business insurance programs that include cyber liability and cybercrime coverage. Learn more about how your business can benefit from this type of protection by reaching out to one of our agents. You may visit us at our Kingsport, TN office or you can pick up the phone today to request a free cyber liability quote.