Why Every Business, Big Or Small, Needs Cyber Insurance
- Written by News Feature Team
Businesses of all sorts make use of the internet daily to communicate, exchange information, and make transactions with customers, partners, and suppliers. And every day, the ever-growing cyber threat increases such as data breach, cyber hacking and ransomware attacks. What can business owners do to ensure that their business is safe from huge potential losses brought about by such threats?
Cyber Insurance is a kind of premium that protects individuals and businesses alike against internet risks and liabilities. The coverage depends on the type of insurance you will avail. Some covers for the security breaches, some for personal data or identity theft while others extend to extortions and even business interruption.
Here are seven reasons why every business, big or small, needs Cyber Insurance.
Your company relies on computers.
No matter what you do with your computers like storing data, making transactions and the like to run your business, you are already at risk. Just imagine what will happen if someone hacks your computer, they can access your customer's details including bank and credit card details. An angry mob of customers might be knocking on your doors asking you compensation for damages that could have prevented in the first place.
Data breaches are unavoidable.
Whether you have a big company or a small startup, it is only a matter of time before someone tries to target your business. According to Statista, the number of data breaches recorded in the US from 2005 to 2028 reached over 22 million records exposed. Because of the unpreparedness of small business owners, they have become an easy target of hackers and cybercriminals. If the bad guys were successful in hacking your data, you could lose so much that it can put you out of business.
You can gain more clients if you have a good reputation when it comes to privacy practices.
No ones want their details out in the open, especially your customers. Since most businesses make transactions online, you can lose a massive number of clients if their personal details leaks. When trust is broken, this can drag your business down, and you lose clients and revenue altogether.
Your general insurance policy doesn’t cover cyber attacks.
Most general insurances typically don't cover losses incurred from the internet since one cannot consider electronic data as a physical property. Without a premium that will manage and mitigate risks, you're exposing your business to massive loss and damages. An excellent cyber policy will cover for your first party, third party property or both damages.
A cyber policy is more affordable than you might think.
There are misconceptions in such type of insurance, but the good news is, an excellent cyber policy doesn't need to break your bank. There are affordable premiums you can avail depending on your company needs and budget that is also quite comprehensive.
Good Read: Why You Need Cyber Liability Insurance
Inside job threats and crimes are as real as it can get.
There are many incidents in the past wherein data breaches, missing funds and other crimes have suspects connected to the company. An Insider threat is becoming more and more prominent because of various reasons - taking revenge, those facing financial difficulties, to divulge sensitive information to competitors for a price.
A cyber attack can jeopardise your relationship with partners.
You and your customers are not the only ones at risk when a cyber attack happens. As long as cybercriminals can get a hold of your partner’s personal information, they can use their victim’s identity to create more crimes. Someone’s identity, livelihood, and reputation can be put out in the line just because you have no cyber liability insurance for your company.
With the rising number of cyber crimes threatening businesses big or small, a cyber policy is just one of the best ways to help protect your company. Here are other ways every entrepreneur needs to know to help safeguard your business.
Be careful with your passwords. Change your passwords often and using a different one for every account will ensure that your assets, data and records are secured. Make sure to create a unique password every time, and to use one that hackers won’t be able to guess easily. Strong passwords are long and contain numbers and symbols. A password manager is also a great way to create and remember new passwords.
Set an IT Policy. When working with staffs, make sure to create an IT Policy everyone will abide. This will ensure that no company records, data or transactions will leak. Let your team know that their computer activities are being recorded. Also, prohibiting your employees from logging on your company’s wifi using unsecured devices can help mitigate risks.
Back-up and encrypt your data daily. Make sure to back up any information, data or transaction you make daily off-site. Doing so will help you reduce any damage in case something happens to your workplace. Encrypting will also help translate your essential files into codes that hackers will find hard to crack.
Limit your staff’s access to sensitive and confidential information. There’s some information that not all of your employees deserve to know - some of which are employees salary, personal information, and your company’s financial transactions. Limiting access to such information will keep your company more secure than leaving sensitive information out in the open. Also, if anything happens to such data, you’ll have a better idea on who to go after since only a select few have access to such information.
Firewall Plus Software. Such software can help protect you from malicious software that can corrupt, steal or destroy essential data. Viruses and malware can cause data loss, computer breakdown and even prevent you from doing tasks necessary to keep your business running.
Without proper risk management, entrepreneurs can lose a considerable amount of profit, data and confidential information. A good insurance company will make sure to help mitigate and manage internet risks for your business. Make sure to have a cyber policy at hand and to incorporate the items listed above to safeguard your business from cyber criminals.