What is cyber liability coverage?
Cyber Liability protection is available as an add-on policy or stand-alone coverage. It protects your business from direct monetary loss from the many types of cyberattacks, as well as from the lawsuits and fines that may result from them.
What harm could an online scammer or hacker do?
There are many types of attacks that your business could experience, such as: Social Engineering – When funds are transferred to someone posing as a third party, or Ransomware – When a hacker steals your data and demands payment for this data. The median cost of a ransomware attack in 2021 was $1.85 million. This includes business downtime, system repairs, legal fees, regulatory fines, lost orders, employee turnover, and operating expenses.
43% of small businesses have already been hacked. 60% of small hacked businesses close within 6 months. Any business that has customer data, a POS machine, or pays multiple vendors is at risk.
Does my business really need cyber liability insurance?
The volume of cyber intrusions and malware/ransomware is increasing exponentially in this decade, and virtually every type of business is at risk. Businesses with fewer than 100 employees are attacked more often than larger companies, and often don’t have the resources to prepare for a cyberattack. Whether you’re a restaurant, contractor, doctor’s office, trucking company, or anything else; you’re at risk of a cyberattack.
Get Cyber Liability Insurance
A and H Insurance has been protecting businesses since 1957. We are an independent agency associated with dozens of major carriers. We will provide you with the best value in coverage, price, and service. Contact us today to get a cyber liability insurance quote.
Claims Examples
To maintain the privacy of all clients, the following examples of claims have been slightly altered from their actual suits. These are not from A and H Insurance clients, but clients of some of the carriers we work with.
Identity Theft
A company fell victim to a cyberattack where an unauthorized person gained access to sensitive information belonging to both its employees and clients. The stolen data included Social Security numbers and bank account information. The perpetrator then sold the information to a website that uses it to fabricate fake identities. The resulting lawsuits, legal defense, and damages surpassed $900,000 in total expenses.
Troubled Employee
Upon discovering that he was going to be fired, an employee with a history of complications decided to take matters into his own hands. He stole sensitive personal account information that the business had collected from its clients and made it public on the internet. This resulted in a lawsuit against the company, with their clients arguing that their privacy had been violated and that they were entitled to compensation. The company was forced to pay over $600,000 to cover the costs of both settlement and legal defense.
Customer Privacy
At an engineering company, an employee discovered a vulnerability in the network security defenses and proceeded to access a confidential trade secret belonging to a customer. The employee then sold the trade secret to one of their customer’s competitors. Consequently, the customer filed a lawsuit against the engineering firm on the grounds of inadequate protection of their trade secret and received more than $500,000 in damages as a result.
Network Security
A company’s network underwent extensive data loss and transmission of a harmful computer virus due to their employee’s accidental download. This virus spread to one of their client’s networks. Their client brought a lawsuit against the company, claiming that it was the company’s responsibility to prevent the virus from spreading. The client sought compensation of $750,000 for both the economic loss resulting from the network security breach and the lost data.
Social Engineering
An individual, pretending to be the Chief Financial Officer, made a request for the W-2 forms of all the employees, under the guise of processing returns. The employees, unaware of the deception, forwarded the W-2s to the imposter. Following this, fraudulent tax returns were submitted on behalf of the employees. The total expenses incurred thus far have exceeded $250,000.