When it comes to business insurance, most managers think about health insurance, liability insurance, property insurance, but many small businesses don’t think about cyber insurance. If they do, they may not believe their company is big enough to be at risk of a cyber-attack and waive the coverage. The reality is – small companies are often targets of attacks because their network security is less sophisticated than larger companies. A cyber-attack can be very expensive and may have lasting impacts to your operations, reputation, staff and customers.

In today’s digital world, cyber insurance should be part of any company’s list of necessities to help protect its company and client data. Your customers trust that you are keeping their personal information secure. Cyber insurance generally covers your company’s liability for a data breach involving sensitive customer information, such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, account numbers, driver’s license numbers and health records. Insurance companies are becoming more stringent regarding the requirements needed to provide cybersecurity coverage. As cyber-attacks continue to increase, traditional cybersecurity strategies may not be enough to protect your business against an attack. If you are not meeting their outlined requirements, they may deny an insurance claims after a cyber-attack!

When considering cyber insurance, make sure to examine all your needs and discuss the requirements in detail with your agent. Different types of coverage include customer and employee data loss, business interruption and extortion, and payment fraud among others. Cost will depend heavily on your industry, company size and type of coverage.

It is important to remember that cyber insurance is just one small piece of the cybersecurity pie. ICC puts a number of cybersecurity tactics in place to minimize exposure and significantly reduce the possibility of an attack. At a minimum, a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy should include email security, network security, monitored backups, test restoring, employee education and Quarterly Cybersecurity Reviews. If you are missing even one piece of the pie, you may be exposed to cyberattacks and could be faced with significant business disruption.