Cyber Liability
Wells Insurance has the coverage options you need to help protect your company, when a cyber attack occurs.
Why do businesses need cyber liability insurance?
As technology becomes increasingly essential for successful business operations, the value of a firm cyber liability insurance policy will only continue to grow.
The continued rise in the amount of information stored and transferred electronically has resulted in a massive increase in businesses’ potential exposures.
In an age where a stolen laptop or hacked account can instantly compromise the data of thousands of customers, or an ill-advised post on a social media site can be read by hundreds in mere minutes, protecting yourself from cyber liability is just as important as some of the more traditional commercial liability policies.
Business owners may not realize that it’s not just the large companies being targeted. Smaller businesses are the low-hanging-fruit for hackers, as their systems are likely more vulnerable – whether due to lack of an I.T. department or lack of cutting-edge protection. Buying and selling of stolen passwords on the Dark Web from data breaches like those that have happened to Facebook, LinkedIn and more leave us all vulnerable to hacking, ransomware and more.
Think your business is safe from a cyber-attack? Think again!
A traditional business liability policy is not designed to protect against cyber exposures.
Standard commercial policies are written to insure against injury or physical loss and will do little, if anything, to shield you from electronic damages and the associated costs they may incur.
Exposures are vast, ranging from the content you put on your website to stored customer data. Awareness of the potential cyber liabilities your company faces is essential to managing risk through proper coverage.
Possible exposures covered by a typical cyber liability policy may include the following:
Data breaches:
Increased government regulations have placed more responsibility on companies to protect clients’ personal information. In the event of a breach, notification of the affected parties is now required by law. This will add to costs that will also include security fixes, identity theft protection for the affected, and protection from possible legal action. While companies operating online are at a heightened risk, even companies that don’t transmit personal data over the internet but still store it in electronic form could be susceptible to breaches through data lost to unauthorized employee access or hardware theft.
Intellectual property rights:
Your company’s online presence, whether through a corporate website, blogs, or social media, opens you up to some of the same exposures faced by publishers. This can include libel, copyright or trademark infringement, and defamation, among other things.
Damages to a third-party system:
If an email sent from your server has a virus that crashes the system of a customer, or the software your company distributes fails, resulting in a loss for a third party, you could be held liable for the damages.
System failure:
A natural disaster, malicious activity, or fire could all cause physical damage resulting in data or code loss. While the physical damages to your system hardware may be covered under your existing business liability policy, data or code loss due to the incident would not be.
Cyber extortion:
Hackers can hijack websites, networks, and stored data, denying access to you or your customers. They often demand money to restore your systems to working order. This can cause a temporary loss of revenue plus generate costs associated with paying the hacker’s demands or rebuilding if the damage is done.
Business interruption:
If your primary business operations require the use of computer systems, a disaster that cripples your ability to transmit data could cause you, or a third party that depends on your services, to lose potential revenue. From a server failure to a data breach, such an incident can affect your day-to-day operations. Time and resources that usually would have gone elsewhere will need to be directed towards the problem, resulting in further losses. This is especially important as denial of service attacks by hackers have been on the rise. Such attacks block access to certain websites by either rerouting traffic to a different site or overloading an organization’s server.
Let Wells Insurance be your Cyber Liability Insurance coverage advisor.
As reliance on technology continues to increase, new exposures continue to emerge.
As your business grows, make sure your cyber liability coverage extends with it. Wells Insurance is here to help you analyze your needs and make the right coverage decisions to protect your operations from unnecessary risk.
ARE YOU UP TO DATE ON THE LATEST CYBER-ATTACKS AND OTHER INDUSTRY NEWS?
To protect bottom lines, businesses must stay updated on the evolving threats to their IT infrastructure and data. While the constant stream of information on cyber risks can be overwhelming, Wells Insurance is here for you.
DO YOU KNOW ALL OF THE CYBER EXPOSURES YOUR BUSINESS FACES?
Organizations, both large and small, need to be proactive to protect against growing cyber threats. Resources like our Cyber Risk Exposure Scorecard and Cyber Security Planning Guide (insert thumbnails of the scorecard and guide per client!) ensure that you are doing the due diligence necessary to prepare for your organization’s unique cyber exposures regardless of how you conduct your business.
DO YOUR EMPLOYEES HAVE ALL THE TRAINING THEY NEED?
Properly training your employees is one of the easiest ways to prevent a cyber breach from affecting your business. However, because cybersecurity is a complex topic, thoroughly training your employees is not always easy. Simplify the process by using our comprehensive employee training materials.