Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

The Cyber Liability Window is Larger Than Ever

person typing at computer

You hear about breaches constantly, but most businesses – especially smaller businesses – think it will only happen to someone else. The data, however, tells a different story. In fact, small business attacks account for more than half of the ransomware incidents in the U.S. In addition, 51% of small businesses report that they don’t have any resources for cybersecurity. So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is the impact an attack can have on your small business, including1:

  • An average ransomware payment of $136,576
  • A median ransomware payment of just over $47,000
  • An average of 23 days of downtime due to ransomware attacks
  • 81% of attacks involved a threat to leak data

These incidents have the potential to shut down a small business. What’s your business’s plan to prevent or respond to a cybersecurity incident? If you do or don’t have a plan, you need one, and it needs to have at least these two main components:

  1. Prevention – preventing a cyber attack is not an exact science, but it is a must to have a plan in place. Work with your IT contact(s) to develop procedures including cloud servers, training of staff, installation and updating of virus prevention software, updating of operating systems, and even physical protection of items like work phones and laptops.
  2. Response – since prevention is not 100%, you must have a plan for response. Training of staff, response of IT, notification of clients and customers, and backup access to servers and systems are all components here. And as you can imagine, these things cost money. That’s why having the appropriate cyber liability policy in place is critical for your business.

Often, insurance companies will include endorsements for cyber insurance in their business insurance policies. However, these may not provide all the protection you need depending on the liabilities of your business. If your company handles more personal data (e.g. names, birthdays, credit card data), you may need broader coverage.

Contact us to discuss the cyber liabilities of your business as well as the coverages that make the most sense for your company.

1 – statistics according to Coveware Q2 Report