{"id":39606,"date":"2024-04-17T13:39:04","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T17:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=39606"},"modified":"2024-04-17T13:39:04","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T17:39:04","slug":"carrying-cyber-liability-insurance-becoming-increasingly-important-in-the-internet-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2024\/04\/carrying-cyber-liability-insurance-becoming-increasingly-important-in-the-internet-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Carrying Cyber Liability Insurance Becoming Increasingly Important In The Internet Age"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Jeremy Deason, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter at Associates of Glens Falls Insurance.
Courtesy of Associates of Glens Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Christine Graf<\/p>\n

With cyberattacks against small businesses on the rise in recent years, it is more important than ever for companies to have cyber liability insurance policies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Verizon\u2019s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 46 percent of all cyber breaches impact businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees.\u00a0In 2020, there were over 700,000 attacks against small businesses, resulting in $2.8 billion in damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been dealing with cyber liability insurance for about 10 years, but it hasn\u2019t been until the last five years that it has become more mainstream. Every business should have a general liability policy as well as a cyber liability policy,\u201d said Jeremy Deason, a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and account executive at Associates of Glens Falls Insurance, an independently-owned insurance agency that writes policies throughout the United States.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When cyber liability was in its infancy, policies were purchased primarily by companies that accepted credit cards or other digital forms of payment. These policies cover credit card breaches as well as the costs associated with providing data monitoring to customers.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>Several years ago, hackers also began targeting employee data, breaching hospital, school, and government agency databases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese hackers were threatening the release of social security numbers and other personal identifiable information (PII),\u201d said Deason. \u201cAnd most recently, they are more focused on ransomware.\u201d<\/p>\n

A type of malicious software, ransomware is designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money\u2014a ransom– is paid, often in Bitcoin. Companies without ransomware coverage are at risk of losing their data if they are unable to pay the ransom.<\/p>\n

As an example, Deason said a small local contractor, one with no ransomware coverage, fell victim to an attack. Unable to pay the ransom and with no Cloud backups, he lost all of his accounting, invoicing, and other data.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe basically had to start over from scratch,\u201d Deason said.<\/p>\n

Although all cyber insurance policies are different, the policies recommended by Associates of Glens Falls Insurance cover credit card breaches, employee and customer PII breaches, and ransomware. These policies also include business interruption insurance for cyberattacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people have business interruption insurance on their property coverage for a property loss–a fire, a windstorm, or something like that. We do not sell policies that don\u2019t have it,\u201d said Deason. \u201cBut on a cyber policy, you want to make sure you have that coverage as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deason estimates that only about 50 percent of companies have cyber liability insurance, saying that those who do are often under insured.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people may have $100,000 in cyber liability coverage, and that\u2019s nothing. The policies we sell have at least $1 million,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Clients that experience a cyberattack are instructed to immediately report the attack to their cyber insurance carrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey take it and run with it because they know what to do,\u201d said Deason. \u201cThey do all of the notifications, and they make sure you are following all of the state, local, and national guidelines, which is huge. That would be such an onerous task for someone to do on their own. All of that is covered by the policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyber liability policies vary in cost but are significantly less expensive for companies that utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA prevents unauthorized access to data and applications by requiring a second method of identity verification. With MFA, even if one credential becomes compromised, unauthorized users will be unable to meet the second authentication requirement and will not be able to access the network or database.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to cyber liability insurance, Deason recommends companies carry employment practices liability (EPL) insurance. EPL provides coverage to employers against claims made by employees alleging discrimination, wrongful termination, or harassment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a lot of people don\u2019t realize is that if your employee sues you, there is no coverage in a regular general liability policy. It\u2019s not just first-party harassment with a boss harassing an employee, it could be employee to employee, employee to customer, customer to employee, vendor to employee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deason also said that any organization or non-profit that has a board of directors or board of trustees should have insurance coverage for directors and officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to make sure that people who are volunteering their time to serve on these boards are not exposing themselves to liability. If I\u2019m serving on a board, the first question I ask is, \u2018Do you have directors and officers coverage?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With the cost of insurance rising, Deason understands that business owners are reluctant to add or increase their coverage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our job to think about worst case scenarios,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get people to understand, and unfortunately, sometimes it takes a loss. The question I ask is, \u2018Can you put your head down at night and feel comfortable knowing that you have the right coverage in place?\u2019 At the end of the day, that extra cost is totally worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, visit www.aogf.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christine Graf With cyberattacks against small businesses on the rise in recent years, it is more important than ever for companies to have cyber liability insurance policies.\u00a0 According to Verizon\u2019s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 46 percent of all cyber breaches impact businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees.\u00a0In 2020, there were over 700,000 attacks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":39607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insurance-medical-services"],"yoast_head":"\r\nCarrying Cyber Liability Insurance Becoming Increasingly Important In The Internet Age - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2024\/04\/carrying-cyber-liability-insurance-becoming-increasingly-important-in-the-internet-age\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Carrying Cyber Liability Insurance Becoming Increasingly Important In The Internet Age - 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