Should You Get Cybercrime Insurance?

The short answer to this question is YES! Incidents of cybercrime have been problematic for a long time, but have increased exponentially since the start of the pandemic. 

If your firm’s reputation depends in part on your ability to keep confidential client records secure, cybercrime insurance is a must. It’s not a matter of if but when your private business info will be breached. 

Finding the Right Insurance

The best place to start is your current insurance agent or an insurance broker you trust. Cybercrime policies are separate policies that cover specific acts, and you will need to read the policy carefully to see exactly what it protects you from. You should also distinguish between personal and business policies; you may want both. 

In a business policy, some of the items you want to consider being protected against include:

• Data breaches
• Ransomware attacks
• Spoofing and identity theft 
• Wire fraud
• Civil fines
• Lawsuits 
• Costs of notification, reputation repair, forensics and data restoration, credit monitoring, and other potential damages

A good policy will cover some or all of these costs:

• Business interruption costs
• Data breach costs
• Extortion costs
• Crisis management and public relations costs
• Data recovery costs
• Computer replacement costs
• The cost of reputational harm   

Just like any other insurance, you will need to complete an application to obtain a quote. Some of the standard questions include:  

• Type of products and services sold in the business
• Type of electronic data stored on business computer systems
• Whether you have written network security and privacy policies in place
• Whether you have backups
• Whether you are in compliance with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act), and GLBA (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act)
• Whether you’ve had a breach in recent years
• Whether you use a firewall
• Whether you use anti-virus protection
• Whether you have an employee/third party off-boarding process that terminates access to computers and data

As you can see, the application process itself is an excellent way to ‘cross your Ts and dot your Is’ when it comes to putting safeguards in place for your business. And your premiums will be less expensive when you have these items in place. It goes without saying that your premium will be less expensive if you get insurance before you are attacked so you have a clean application.

A key part of owning a business is managing enterprise risk effectively. Having a cybercrime policy will go a long way toward protecting your hard-earned investment and giving you peace of mind so you can sleep better at night. 

If you also want peace of mind that your business finances are in order, reach out to us today! We can help you simplify your processes, organize your financials, and gain valuable insight into your business.