Although more companies are buying cybersecurity insurance, the question is whether they understand what they’re buying and what’s covered by it. There’s no argument that digital crime is rising, but the relative newness of cybersecurity insurance policies can make it difficult to understand.
Meanwhile, insurers are striving to determine what damages to cover and what they should charge for premiums. At this point, corporate secrecy makes it difficult to know how often they are breached or to know what the full impact is.
There was a time when a firewall and scanning for viruses was enough. Not so nowadays where you have to protect everything because it’s all interconnected.
Rogue hackers are out there, but the more sophisticated, well-financed attacks should be a higher priority. They go after the commercial intellectual property and military related data.
Easy targets include healthcare systems and financial institutions with the latter spending about three times more on cybersecurity. However, all industries, large or small are targets. Some refer to data as a new monetary form.
Corporate leaders are under scrutiny to prove they have done everything possible to protect their businesses from technology intrusions. But without a well-planned and tested security plan you’re an easy target for cybercrimes. Security plans and disaster recovery plans can help reduce a company’s liability. Beyond that — insurance is supposed to step in.
Insurance can help by paying for the damage intruders cause and it may pick up some of the tab for defending the company from lawsuits or regulatory claims. But it’s not as clear cut as home or auto insurance. Why? Because cyber insurance has no set standards, so that the same basic risks and limits on what’s covered is consistent.
But unlike auto or home insurance, cyber insurance lacks standards, where every insurer’s policies address the same basic risks and have the same basic limits on what they cover and how much they will pay.
The safest approach is to find out all the details of the firms you use to outsource various tech. How will your cyber insurance interact with a vendor’s insurance? It’s the best way to avoid snags.
For businesses that rely heavily on technology but lack the understanding of what’s needed, should probably have cyber insurance. Companies not relying so much on technology should have no less that excellent cyber security practices.
If you do decide on cyber insurance, be sure to keep your insurers informed about how you communicate safety measures and train employees. At the very least, it might help to keep premiums lower.
In spite of the hurdles that exist with cyber insurance as it is currently, insurers are finding more and more new customers. Projections for growth in the global market for cybersecurity insurance fall into the range of more than $14 billion by 2022.
Managed security and compliance, including vulnerability assessment are just a few of the valuable services provided by VAZATA. Let us help you evaluate your company’s security needs to help mitigate the occurrence of cybercrime.