Cyber Insurance

Why Your Business Needs Protection Against Modern Cyber Risks

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says that America has experienced an unprecedented increase in cyberattacks and malicious cyber activity. In 2021, ransomware attacks nearly doubled, according to NCC Group.

#1: A single attack can devastate a business

Because many essential business functions depend on computer systems, an attack can lead to downtime and lost revenue. Businesses may feel forced to pay expensive ransoms, and they may spend more money investigating the attack, complying with the ever-growing list of data breach notification laws, recovering data, and securing the compromised system. Regulatory penalties and lawsuits can add to the total costs.

According to the 2021 IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach is $4.25 million, and the average cost of a ransomware breach is $4.62 million. (these facts could be shown as callouts)

#2: Your other insurance policies might not cover your losses

Standard property, general liability, and crime insurance policies may not provide adequate coverage for cyber risks. Many of these policies include exclusions and limitations that reduce the coverage available after a cyber incident.
Cyber liability is a specialized risk, and to cover it fully, you need specialized cyber insurance.

#3: Cyber incident response planning can help your business survive

Robust planning can help businesses survive disasters, and this is true whether we’re talking about a natural disaster or a cyber disaster. A good cyber response plan is especially important now, both because of the surge in cyberattacks and because of new data breach regulations.

According to the NCSL, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have laws that require private businesses to notify individuals when their personally identifiable information has been exposed in a breach.

Cyber liability insurance can help cover the costs associated with a cyber incident. However, cyber insurance does more than that. Your policy can also give you access to cyber incident response experts, including IT forensics specialists and public relations advisors, to help you protect your business’s reputation and bottom line.
Heffernan Insurance Brokers maintains a cyber risk team that has expertise in determining your exposure, can shop the market, present your options, and guide you in the selection of coverage that meets your company’s needs.