Getting hacked isn’t just a hassle. It also poses a potentially huge and unexpected cost to your business.

Cyber liability insurance is a specialized policy that’s customized to cover many of the risks your business faces from an information breach–and even covers some risks you might not have thought of.

How can cyber liability insurance protect you?

Use the yellow hot spots and explore how cyber liability insurance can help protect against common risks.
Cyber Liability

Cyber Liability Coverage

Risk Factor

The Internet has spun a whole new web of liability exposures. E-commerce, social networking, cloud storage and other technologies bring great benefits to large and small businesses alike. But with these benefits also come challenges, including protection of privacy, data and financial information of your customers. If this information is lost, stolen or compromised, your company is at risk. In fact, you may even be required by law to alert those impacted by the breach and to pay for any financial loss incurred.

Solution

Cyber liability coverage offers protection due to unauthorized access of electronic data or software within your network. It also provides coverage for spreading a virus, computer theft, extortion or any unintentional act, mistake, error or omission made by an employee. This coverage is quickly becoming more and more important as you embrace technology to help run your business.

First-Party Coverage

Risk Factor

If your company is faced with a data breach or cyber-attack, you may be forced to cover breach-related expenses such as crisis management, hiring a public relations firm to manage a data breach incident, costs associated with forensic analysis, the cost of repairing and restoring computer systems if there is a virus that destroys business software and data, and the loss of business income resulting from a data breach.

Solution

First-party coverage will insure your business for losses to your own data or lost income or for other harm to your business resulting from a data breach or cyber attack. This coverage will pay you for things like business interruption, the cost of notifying customers of a breach, and even the expense of hiring a public relations firm to repair any damage done to your image as a result of a cyber-attack. Having this funding available in the event of a crippling hack can keep the lights on till you’re able to resume your normal business operations.

Business Income

Risk Factor

What would you do if an email virus impacted the operation of your database and prevented you from serving clients for a day or more? Or what if a hacker or cyber-criminal caused a system outage or extended downtime, leaving your business inoperable? These and other events can destroy your ability to serve clients and bring in revenue, which can have a major long-term impact on the viability of your business.

Solution

Business interruption insurance compensates you for lost income if your company cannot operate as normal due to disaster-related damage that is covered under your commercial property insurance policy, such as data breach or cyber-attack. Business income insurance covers the revenue you would have earned, based on your financial records, had the disaster not occurred. The policy also covers operating expenses, like electricity, that continue even though business activities have come to a temporary halt.

Third-Party Coverage

Risk Factor

If your business handles sensitive customer data (such as email lists, credit card records or other files), data breaches pose a serious threat to your financial stability. A lawsuit resulting from a data breach means your business is responsible for paying legal fees, court-ordered judgments or settlements and other court-related costs.

Solution

Third-party coverage protects you in the event of a lawsuit brought by a customer or partner for a data breach that your business' actions or negligence allowed.

Regulatory Claim Coverage

Risk Factor

If your business experiences a data breach or violation of confidential information during regular business operations, you may be found in violation of state or federal privacy laws and be required to pay fines for the violations or other regulatory issues.

Solution

You may be eligible for regulatory claim coverage which would offer protection in response to proceedings related to state disclosure laws and other governmental actions that can result in defense costs, fines and/or penalties. Coverage does vary and may be restricted by state law.

A number of action steps must be taken once your business has experienced a cyber hack. These steps include:

  • notifying customers and clients of the breach (a legal requirement in most states)
  • restoring your business’ website to working order
  • dealing with extortion attempts
  • paying damages to clients, customers and suppliers who lose out because of your breach

All of these necessary action steps can lead to a hefty, unexpected cost for your business. Not to mention, dealing with the aftermath of a cyber hack could close your business temporarily, which could result in a loss of income.

A cyber liability insurance policy can help you to cover the expenses associated with a cyber hack. Additionally, some commercial cyber liability policies cover loss of business while your systems are compromised or unavailable. You can even get coverage against inadvertently breaching somebody else’s copyright.

In addition to protecting your business against cyber risks financially, obtaining cyber liability insurance can also help reduce potential risks, because insurers will talk through your current cyber-defenses and identify potential weaknesses that you need to plug.

Want to obtain a cyber liability insurance policy for your business? Reach out. We’re ready to help!

Let’s discuss your cyber liability insurance.

One of our insurance advisors will reach out to you to review your information and present you with the appropriate cyber liability insurance solution. There’s no obligation, just good-old-fashioned advice.
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Carr Insurance Agency, Inc. offers comprehensive cyber liability insurance throughout Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, including Centerville,Warren and Hamilton, OH, Louisville, KY, and Montgomery, Greene, Jefferson and Oldham counties.