Cyber Liability Insurance

Cyber Liability insurance helps businesses survive data breaches and cyber-attacks by paying for recovery expenses and providing liability coverage.  Businesses are becoming more dependent on the internet and electronic data storage. Companies store more sensitive information than ever on their computers.  Therefore, it’s important for a business owner to understand their exposure to a Cyber Liability claim and to make sure that coverage is in place, if there is an exposure.  Cyber Liability coverage can be endorsed onto a business insurance policy (BOP, General Liability, Package) or it can be a monoline policy.

Many small business owners are unaware of the risk their business has of a data breach.  Many believe that hackers are more likely to attack a high-profile company. Although such breaches obviously occur, they do so less frequently than data breaches at small businesses.

Why do cyber criminals attack small businesses?  Many small-business owners do the following:

• Accept credit cards.
• Store customer information.
• Conduct business online or in the cloud.
• Small-business owners are less likely to have a strong defense against hackers.

This is where Cyber Liability coverage comes into play.  It can often pay for customer notification, credit monitoring, & legal fees after a breach occurs.  Like other types of coverage, cyber-liability insurance covers policyholders in the event of a specified loss – in this case, a cyber-attack.  As business owners work to recover information and resources from a data breach, the insurance covers expenses such as credit monitoring for affected customers, crisis and reputation management, & customer notification.

Cyber Insurance typically includes two components, Data Breach Expense Coverage and Data Breach Liability coverage.   Both coverages are triggered by a data breach, but their coverage differs. To have comprehensive Cyber Liability insurance, it’s best to have both coverages included in your policy.

Data Breach Expense Coverage:

• Pays for the expenses to notify your clients of a security breach
• Pays for services that impacted individuals may need, for example credit monitoring & identity restoration case management.

Data Breach Liability Coverage:

• Provides coverage for your legal liability for damages due to the theft or loss of “Personally Identifiable Information”
• Provides coverage for civil awards, settlements, and judgments as a result of a data breach claim

To learn more about a Cyber Liability Insurance, please give Mitros Insurance a call at 610-296-2600.