Does Every Business Need Cyber Insurance?

You may have heard about cyber attacks, and are worried your business is at risk. But is it true that no matter your trade, you need some form of cyber insurance?

No, not necessarily. If you are a business that holds no records of customers, inventory or sales, then you probably don’t need a cyber insurance policy. If you process payments online, store employee and customer data on computer systems, or otherwise handle sensitive information online, a cyber insurance policy is essential.

If you just have a simple website or social media presence, you don’t need cyber insurance. It all depends on what data you collect and store.

In this article, we’ll answer the following questions:

• Do I need cyber insurance for my business?
• Will I need cyber insurance if I have a website?
• Why do I need cyber insurance?

If your computer systems are compromised in a cyber attack and vulnerable data is exposed, you may be subject to heavy fines imposed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC). Always know the risks before you buy a policy, or invest in IT solutions.

Small businesses and cyber insurance

Reading the news, you will undoubtedly be aware of the alarmingly regular stories about large multinational companies falling victim to cyber attacks. It’s easy to think such catastrophes only happen to big corporations – unfortunately, the opposite is more likely.

As a small business owner, you cannot afford to sit back and relax when it comes to cyber security. If you use email, hold customer data, or take online payments, this data could be at risk. The size of your business doesn’t matter.

The fact of the matter is, multinational companies aren’t that attractive a target to the average cyber criminal. Their security is far more advanced, and there’s a much greater risk of the attacker being exposed. Hackers can target any business that has an online presence, from anywhere in the world – and they often choose small to medium enterprises because they rely on the owners’ lack of knowledge about cyber security.

In short, it’s a numbers game. More and smaller targets are easier for criminals to take advantage of than organising and executing a hit on a larger company.

Your business may be at risk

There are several reasons why a hacker might target you or your business, but in nine out of ten cases it boils down to money. Either the hacker is demanding money for ransom or stealing your customers’ credit card details, or they want to obtain the data you hold in order to sell it for the highest price they can get.

Depending on your line of work, it may be easy to assume your business doesn’t have what hackers want. But this is almost entirely false: every business which operates online stores some kind of data which can be exploited.

Freelancers, tradesmen, businesses with a physical inventory or which sell digital goods: if you store data, you need a cyber insurance policy.

For example:

• IT consultants hold data including names, addresses, passwords and other personal information
• Marketing consultants hold company information and possibly financial information
• Photographers hold contact information, personal information and store images of their clients
• Tradesmen hold contact information, and images and information about their clients’ houses and security

Each of these businesses needs to keep its data both safe and easily accessible for its day-to-day operations. This means each one is a potential target. And that goes for far more businesses than could be listed here.

How to protect your business

The best way of making sure your data and that of your employees and clients is kept safe is to get a cyber insurance policy. This will help you cover the costs associated with recovering from an attack, as well as hiring the necessary security professionals to ensure it never happens again.

Talk to us today about any of your cyber insurance questions

Our cyber insurance experts have comprehensive experience dealing with businesses’ cyber liability concerns. We can help you find exactly the right policy for your business. Give us a call today to find out more.