Cyber insurance (a.k.a. Cyber Liability, Internet Liability, Electronic Media Liability, and Network Security & Information Liability insurance, among other countless monikers) helps companies weather the storm from many technology-based risks that might befall them, including risks associated with a company’s information technology infrastructure and activities such as a systems failure event, cyber attack, or data breach.

Cyber insurance also provides coverage for privacy liability events (that is to say, the loss of protected, private information irrespective of whether it is through a hack or simply a misplaced laptop, USB stick, or even file cabinet), as well as media liability events (for example, if you are accused of defamation, infringement, or other wrongful acts with respects to your website or other electronic media).

Of course, in this day in age, information technology is more likely than not at the center of every business activity.  Not to mention, almost every business has an online presence whether that be a website, mobile app, or Facebook page.

This is why we recommend that every business, in every industry, and of every size add cyber insurance to their insurance portfolio.

Cybersecurity is a broad and often complex topic for companies to address. With so many products, services, tools, and consultants out there, it can be daunting for small or medium-sized business owners to know where to begin. Here are a few common examples of cyber attacks.

• Malware Infections. There are many types of malware that include malicious software that hackers use to bug, steal and control your data and systems through link clicks and attachment downloads.
• Business Email Compromise (BEC) is one of the most prevalent data breach claims we see at Coalition. Put simply, a BEC occurs when an employee’s email account is accessed by an attacker. This usually occurs because of lost, stolen, or guessed passwords.
• Phishing involves the use of fraudulent emails to steal information or encourage malware downloads.
• Funds Transfer Fraud – FTF for short – is a type of fraud in which attackers manage to redirect funds before or during a transfer. This is typically accomplished through social engineering techniques, sometimes stemming from email spoofing or even business email compromise.
• Social Engineering is likely the most effective method that attackers use. These kinds of attacks use various techniques to trick human users into taking action. The actions attackers are trying to achieve varies from tricking users into downloading malware to giving up usernames and passwords, and everything in between.
• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) involves bombarding a business’ server with multiple simultaneous requests to stop it from fulfilling legitimate requests.

Coverage provided by cyber insurance policies may include 1st party coverage against losses such as data destruction, extortion, and theft, as well as hacking, ransomware, denial of service attacks or even systems failure events that cause business interruption losses.

Often this includes 3rd party liability coverage indemnifying companies for losses to others caused, for example, by errors and omissions in your technology, failure to safeguard data, multimedia wrongful acts such as defamation, as well as regulatory fines and penalties;

Other benefits can include coverage for costs related to post-incident breach response and public relations services, and extra expenses to restore the normal operations of your business, among others.

In summary, cyber insurance is designed to cover many forms of loss and liability you could be exposed to in your business’ everyday use of technology.

When criminals infiltrate a network, steal data, or hold data hostage, the business they steal from can be legally and financially liable. As a business, you are responsible for your cyber security. One data breach can end up costing you thousands of dollars in customer notification expenses, legal fees, fines or settlements.

There is often some confusion associated with General Liability (GL) coverage for cyber incidents that centers around the “3rd party property damage” coverage provided in GL policies. Unfortunately, in the world of GL insurance, “property” only encompasses tangible property and not your digital assets. Nor do GL policies cover the 1st party costs you might incur to recover from a cyber incident (e.g., the costs to hire computer experts to investigate the cause or restore the damage, the costs to restore data in a ransomware attack, business interruption losses, among numerous other loss possibilities).

For IT providers and consultants, GL policies do often include an endorsement titled, “Digital Data Protection Endorsement”. Where this endorsement is present, the GL policy will cover the loss of data, but only for situations where 3rd party data is lost due to property damage.

In summary, General Liability policies do not provide adequate coverage for the cyber and technological risks faced by nearly every company. This is why cyber insurance exists. Cyber policies are designed to provide coverage for the various loss exposures companies face (both 1st party, and liability to 3rd parties) that result from a cyber incident.

In addition to the company and any majority-owned subsidiaries, our policy covers senior executives and employees as long as their actions are in the normal scope of a company’s business operations.

Almost no time whatsoever! In most cases, your Bauld Insurance Business Advisor can generate a quote within a day. Once you are ready to proceed, your Advisor we complete the sign-up process and start your coverage immediately.