Cyber insurance is an important tool in protecting your business from cyber threats. Cyber insurance can help your business to recover after a cyber attack, and protect your business from the financial losses associated with a cyber related event. Cyber insurance can help to supplement existing cyber security measures, providing additional protection and financial aid in the event of a cyber security incident.
This guide provides an overview of cyber insurance, what it covers, and how to ensure your cyber security measures are aligned with today’s tightened cyber insurance underwriting standards used by insurers when assessing and pricing cyber insurance policies. These standards help insurers evaluate the risk associated with providing coverage for cyber threats and determine the premium for the policy.
Invest in a Comprehensive Cyber Insurance Policy: When it comes to protecting your business from the financial impact of a data breach or cyber event, a comprehensive cyber insurance policy is key. Cyber insurance provides financial protection against cyber threats, data breaches, and other related incidents. It can help cover the costs associated with investigating and responding to a breach, as well as the costs of legal defense, settlements, and damages. Cyber insurance can also help you to recover lost income and replace or restore compromised data. Investing in a comprehensive cyber insurance policy can help ensure that your business has an incident response team ready and available to assist with the response and financial impact of an incident.
Understand the Types of Cyber Insurance Coverage Available:
Cyber insurance can provide coverage for a variety of cyber risks, including data breaches, cyber-attacks, and other malicious activities. It is important to understand the coverage limits and exclusions associated with cyber insurance coverage.
Below is an outline of common cyber insurance coverages:
1. Network Security and Privacy Liability: This type of coverage protects businesses from liability arising from a network security failure, data breach, or privacy violation. It covers costs associated with notification, credit monitoring, legal defense, and other associated costs.
2. Regulatory Defense and Penalties: This type of coverage provides protection for fines or penalties associated with regulatory privacy law violations. This is especially important for businesses in heavily regulated industries, such as healthcare or finance.
3. Cyber Extortion Coverage: This type of coverage helps protect businesses from the ransom demands that can occur following a cyber attack. This can include the cost of ransom payments, as well as the cost of hiring a third-party negotiator.
4. Privacy Breach Notification: This type of coverage helps businesses pay for costs associated with notifying customers about a data breach, and can include credit monitoring services.
5. Cyber Business Interruption Coverage: This type of coverage helps businesses protect against the financial losses associated with a cyber attack that results in a disruption to their IT network operations. It covers lost revenue, costs associated with restoring operations, and other related IT interruption costs.
Cyber insurance requires that organizations have certain cyber security measures in place in order to qualify for coverage.
Below is an outline and details on the common cyber security measures that cyber insurance underwriters look for when assessing a proposed insured’s cyber security procedures.
Utilize Multi-Factor Authentication:
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an important security measure that can help protect your business from cyber-attacks. MFA adds an extra layer of security to user accounts by requiring multiple forms of authentication, such as a password and a second form of authentication such as a randomly generated code or a biometric factor, in order to access an account. This provides an additional layer of security that helps protect sensitive data, customers’ personal information, and accounts from unauthorized access. MFA also helps to reduce the risk of account takeover and other malicious activities, and can help to protect your business from data breaches. It is an effective way to strengthen your security and reduce the risk of cyber-attacks.
Secure Data in the Cloud:
The cloud offers businesses a secure, cost-effective way to store, share, and manage data. With cloud data security, businesses can protect sensitive data from unauthorized access and keep it safe from malicious actors. Additionally, cloud data security can help businesses reduce their cyber security costs associated with maintaining their own physical infrastructure, as well as decrease their environmental footprint.
Establish an Incident Response Plan:
Establishing an Incident Response Plan is an important part of any business’ cyber security strategy. An Incident Response Plan helps your business prepare for, detect, respond to, and recover from a data breach. It can also serve as a guideline for establishing protocols and procedures to ensure that any suspected or confirmed breach or cyber related event is handled quickly and efficiently. By having a plan in place, your business can reduce the risk of data loss and limit the damage caused by an incident. Additionally, having a plan in place can help with compliance requirements and demonstrate to customers and partners that your business takes data security seriously.
Monitor Network Traffic for Unusual Activity:
Monitoring network traffic for unusual activity is important for businesses to protect their data, networks, and systems from malicious attacks and unauthorized access. Unusual activity can indicate malicious activity, such as malware, spam, and viruses, or other security threats. By monitoring and analyzing network traffic, businesses can identify potential threats and take appropriate actions to mitigate them. Additionally, by monitoring network traffic, businesses can better understand user and system behavior, allowing them to better optimize network performance.
Utilize Encryption to Protect Sensitive Data:
Encryption is one of the most effective ways of protecting sensitive data from unauthorized access. It prevents data from being read, copied, modified, or deleted without authorization. Data that is encrypted is virtually impossible to decipher without the appropriate key, making it a secure and reliable way of protecting data. With the increasing prevalence of data breaches, encryption is an essential tool to help protect businesses and their customers. Encryption can help protect data stored on laptops, mobile devices, and in the cloud, ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to sensitive information. Additionally, encryption can help protect data in transit, making sure that information is kept secure during transmission over the internet or other networks.
Utilize Firewalls and Intrusion Detection Systems:
Firewalls and intrusion detection systems provide a very important layer of network security for any business. Firewalls can be used to control incoming and outgoing network traffic, while intrusion detection systems can be used to detect and alert of malicious activity on the network. Firewalls and intrusion detection systems provide an extra layer of security and help protect businesses from malicious actors and cyber attacks.
Utilize Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR):
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a system that uses a combination of software and hardware solutions to monitor, detect, and respond to malicious activity on a network. EDR systems monitor user activity, system resources, and network traffic to detect suspicious activity, alert administrators, and take automated responses such as blocking access, quarantining files, or shutting down services. EDR systems are designed to be used in conjunction with other cyber security measures such as firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and anti-malware solutions.
Adopt a Patch Management Process:
Patch management is an essential process for any business that uses computers, networks, and other technology. It helps protect against cyber attacks, data breaches, and other security threats. Patch management keeps your systems up-to-date with the latest security patches, reduces the risk of security vulnerabilities, and helps ensure compliance with security standards. It can also help improve system performance and reliability, and reduce the potential for downtime caused by out-of-date or vulnerable software. In short, patch management is essential for any business that relies on technology.
Know Who to Contact in the Event of a Cyber-Attack:
Knowing who to contact in the event of a cyber-attack is essential for any business to properly protect itself from malicious cyber threats. Having a contact in place allows you to respond quickly and effectively to any potential cyber threats and reduce the potential damage caused by the attack. Furthermore, having a cyber insurance policy in place also ensures that when your cyber insurance claim is reported, an incident response team is on call and the right resources are used to mitigate the attack and ensure your business’s security.
Finally, it is important to work with a trusted cyber insurance broker to get the coverage that is right for your business. An experienced cyber insurance broker can help you understand the coverage limits and exclusions associated with each type of coverage, and navigate the underwriting process. By understanding the cyber risks that your business faces and the coverage available to protect it, you can ensure that your business is protected from cyber threats.
If your company needs assistance with obtaining cyber insurance quotes or reviewing its current coverages, contact us today.