It is a question that every business owner has asked themselves at some point.
Modern businesses rely on technology to drive their business, but those same technologies can serve as a conduit for malicious actors to gain access to sensitive data.
While cybersecurity should be a priority regardless of your organization's ability to recover from an incident. Having cyber insurance may help you mitigate the financial impact of a breach.
A cyber insurance policy can help prevent financial ruin
Cyber insurance is the best way to protect your company from financial ruin in the event of a data breach.
Protecting yourself from cyber threats and data breaches is an important consideration for any business. By speaking with your insurance company, you can learn about the options that are available to you based on your industry and geographical location.
A cyber insurance policy can help prevent financial ruin by providing financial protection against damages resulting from:
- Customer identity theft.
- Intellectual property theft.
- Loss of revenue due to downtime or restrictions on use of your website and apps.
- Cost of restoring lost data or systems after an attack.
- Fines that may result from violating laws or regulations related to cybersecurity.
- Hiring experts and consultants to investigate the breach.
- Cost of communicating with customers and employees about the breach.
In short: If you don’t have cyber insurance, you should get some! A data breach can cause severe financial damage to a company.
You need to properly evaluate your own risk or work with someone who can help
Before you can decide whether it is worth it to get cyber liability insurance, you will need to properly assess your own risk.
This is a process that can be broken down into three steps:
First, determine what business you are in and the potential for data loss or exposure.
Next, determine what risk profile your business has based on internal controls and industry standards.
Finally, review any external rules or regulations that may affect your decision about whether cyber insurance is right for you.
Cyber insurance is not a cure-all, and businesses should not rely on it as their only security solution.
Cyber insurance is not a silver bullet. It cannot be used as a security solution or substitute for a good cyber security program, nor will it protect you from every potential attack.
It can help mitigate the financial impact of a breach, but it does not replace an effective cyber security program that includes:
- A strong perimeter defense system (firewalls, IDS/IPS)
- Secure access control systems (multi-factor authentication)
- Strong endpoints protection (anti-virus software) and backups
- A strong, multi-layered security strategy that protects the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data.
- Regularly updated software and hardware to prevent unauthorized access or use of your systems.
- A robust reporting system that tracks system vulnerabilities and potential threats in real time.
Cyber insurance can be helpful at mitigating the costs of a data breach.
It is important to properly evaluate your risk.
Cyber insurance can be helpful at mitigating the costs of a data breach, but it is important to properly evaluate your risk first.
It can help with the cost of a data breach by covering loss from theft or other unauthorized actions that result in the disclosure of sensitive information and identity theft.
Cybersecurity experts recommend investing in prevention rather than mitigation strategies. Cyber insurance is not intended to replace good security practices; instead, it should be used to cover losses after an attack has occurred.
Managed IT Services can help with cyber security
Managed IT services are a great way to get started on the path to better cyber security. As part of our managed IT service, we can help you find the right solutions and meet requirements for insurance companies. We’ll make sure your network is secure and running smoothly, so you can focus on doing what you do best. Running your business!
Final Words
We recommend looking into cyber insurance as part of your overall strategy to protect your business from data breaches. It is not a silver bullet to prevent all financial harm from happening, but it can help mitigate the costs associated with a breach and ensure you do not go out of business if one occurs.
We hope that after reading this article, you will have more knowledge about whether cyber insurance is right for your company.