The questions of the day is do you actually need cyber liability insurance? If you own or operate a business or run an organization than the answer is a resounding yes. You need cyber liability insurance in order to protect yourself just in case a hacker breaks into your computer system. If that occurs they can steal some of your most valuable assets including personal and financial information about your customers, employees and even yourself. If a hacker breaks into your computer system they can also cripple your business.
You need to have a cyber liability policy in place to cover those losses. It’s an unfortunate fact, but cyber crimes including data breaches are now commonplace. We have all read stories about major retailers who have been hacked and their customer data has been stolen. Even the United States federal government has been hacked. However, small organizations are also at risk. In fact, 55% of small businesses have suffered a data breach. What’s worse is that 54% of those that have been breached have experienced multiple data breaches. You would think that the cyber thieves would rather target large corporations since they have significantly more data to steal.
Although that’s true, their computer systems are far more difficult to break into. In essence, many hackers go for the lower lying fruit. The bottom line is that it’s easier to break into your computer system when compared to a major corporation’s computer system. So, what exactly is cyber liability insurance? In essence, it’s a type of insurance that covers your organization’s liability for data breaches that involves your customers’ personal, private, and financial information.
For example, cyber liability insurance protects your liability if your customers Social Security number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and health records are stolen by a cyber thief. A great deal of small business owners and operators are actually under the false impression that their general liability policy covers cyber liability as well. However, your general liability policy only covers property damage and bodily injury that results from your operations including your products or services.
That means if you don’t have a separate cyber liability insurance policy in place you are exposed. So, what does cyber liability insurance cover? In addition to legal fees and any expenses associate with that, your cyber liability insurance policy covers you costs to notify customers about the data breach. It also helps pay for the expenses of restoring the personal identities of your affected customers and recovering the compromised data. Last but certainly not least, your cyber liability insurance policy covers the repair costs to fix your broken computer system.
If you own a business or operate an organization in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts you need to ensure that you have the proper cyber liability insurance coverage in place. Please consult with a professional insurance agent that can answer your questions about all insurance related topics. It is important to fully understand exactly what you are buying when it comes to insurance policies. If you have any questions, please call (508) 831-0133 to contact an associate at Zawada Insurance. We are happy to walk you through the details of your insurance policies and explain your coverage options.
We look forward to helping you with all of your personal and or business related insurance needs now and in the future.