Importance Of Cyber Risk Insurance For Boston Businesses

Your Boston business faces a multitude of risks on a daily basis. While some of these risks can be physical in nature l (i.e. supply chain disruptions), there are also virtual risks to consider in the form of cybersecurity attacks. Hackers will try to infiltrate your business to uncover sensitive data and customer information. This has the potential to be catastrophic to your business if the attack succeeds.

That’s why you’ll want to have cyber risk insurance. It helps protect your organization from the various threats associated with a cyber incident or event. Of course, if you have yet to buy cyber liability insurance, you may not know where to start. Even if you have purchased it, you may have challenges understanding and maintaining your policy.

In this post, we’ll take a deep dive into why cyber risk insurance is so critical for your team to have. We’ll talk about how it can help keep you more secure as well as how you can go about getting it.

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What is Cyber Risk Insurance?

Cyber risk insurance works like any other kind of insurance you’d purchase. You buy a coverage plan which offers protection against specific risks to your business. In the case of this kind of policy, those risks would be related to a cyber event such as hacking or malware infection.

The specific parameters of your policy will depend on the type of policy you purchase as well as the provider you buy from. Before making the commitment with one provider, you’ll want to know exactly what you’re buying and how it will assist you in the event of an incident.

So what kind of situations will you be protected from with cyber risk insurance? Again, your coverage may vary, but generally speaking, cyber risk insurance can cover the cost of notifying your customers about an attack, funding your PR campaign following an incident, or even maintaining awareness of your customers’ credit card status to monitor for suspicious activity.

There’s also a legal aspect that cyber risk insurance can provide assurances for. After a cyber attack, you can be held liable for certain damages from your stakeholders or customers in certain situations. Some cyber risk insurance policies can help offset legal costs you may incur.

What Will Your Cyber Risk Insurance Cover?

Another caveat that bears repeating: not all cyber risk insurance policies are created equal. Be sure to carefully review your policy, either with your provider, or with the help of a trusted expert well-versed in navigating cyber risk insurance, before you buy. Understand the scope and limitations of your cyber risk insurance.

One thing that any cyber risk insurance policy will provide you with is the ability to breathe easier knowing that you have some measure of protection against a cyber threat or incident. Below are just a few of the scenarios you may encounter that cyber risk insurance coverage may be able to help with:

Maintaining business continuity

Your organization is a well-oiled machine, with people and systems in place set to serve your customers. Then one day, it all comes to a crashing halt when a cyber attack slows them all down. If you can’t operate your business, you may be looking at a major disruption to your workflow and, in turn, a disruption in your revenue. This can have both short- and long-term negative impacts on your bottom line. With cyber risk insurance, you can address these interruptions.

Legal fees and concerns

As noted above, there’s the potential for legal liability for your company following an attack. One common example is when customer credit card information is hacked. This exposes your customers – and in turn, your company – to a possible legal quagmire. With cyber risk insurance, you can more easily weather the legal storm ahead.

Equipment damage

To do business, you need devices like laptops and mobile phones. You also need software such as computer applications and other systems. A cyber event can damage your equipment significantly in ways that lead to a major disruption in your business. With cyber liability coverage, you can ensure your equipment is covered.

Improving your reputation

A major component of your response to a cyber incident is the messaging you use to describe the situation. What happened, what steps are you taking to improve the situation, and how can you reassure customers that they can trust you? To establish this, you’ll want to employ a robust public relations strategy. There can be significant costs associated with the development of messaging as well as general outreach.

Keeping tabs on your systems and how the attack impacted them

After one attack, you’ll want to do anything you can to prevent it from happening again in the future. For this, you’ll need to uncover the root cause and analyze how to fix it. That could involve purchasing analysis tools, and cyber risk insurance may help cover the costs for them.

Keeping your customers informed

Communication is vital when responding to a cyber incident. Once you’ve been attacked, you’ll want to quickly connect with your customers to help them understand what’s going on and how they may be impacted. With cyber risk insurance, you can look for assistance in handling some of these costs.

Why Cyber Risk Insurance Is Necessary to Keep Your Organization Secure

Just as you wouldn’t think of driving a car without liability insurance, you shouldn’t risk operating a business with multiple IT systems without comprehensive cyber risk insurance coverage.

The challenge with maintaining the right cybersecurity posture is that the threats are always evolving. Hackers invent new attack methods every day, all designed to exploit honest businesses looking to do nothing more than serve their customers. While you can’t eliminate these threats completely, you can do your part to secure your organization from them. Cyber risk insurance is a valuable tool in that fight.

It’s important that you understand how to get the most out of your cyber risk insurance with an expert partner who understands IT services, helping you navigate your policy. For your Boston area business, you’ll want to partner with Radius Executive IT Solutions.

We can help you understand how to purchase your cyber risk insurance and maximize the benefits derived from your plan. For more on how we can help, contact us today.

Thanks to our colleagues at Tektonic in Vaughan for their help with this research.

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