Privacy breaches, data breaches, cyber crime, targeted attacks … all different names for basically the same thing: lost, stolen or compromised information.
The topic has been in the news often lately and, last month, the Carlsbad Business Journal offered some tips on how to protect your Wi-Fi network from that type of trouble. There is a growing consensus, however, that if you own a business, it is only a matter of time until you are faced with a data security issue.
To be sure, there are a lot of great tech services you can use to protect private data. But what happens if your business experiences an unfortunate event like a data breach? Would you know what to do next? Could you get help? Could your business afford it? If it can happen to companies like Sony, Citi, Lockheed Martin and Nintendo, it can happen to small and medium business anywhere.
This article will shed some light on one of the ways a business can get crucial help after a data breach: insurance. Are you still there? Good, because this is important. It is likely you don't have access to this crucial help as you read this.
Most thinking around this issue focuses on cyber security measures, which is obviously a great place to start, but not the only step to examine.
Today's businesses are structurally bound to technology, but it is not always a technology related loss of data that can lead to problems.
Ever lost a cell phone or a flash drive? How about a laptop? But how about that file folder that blew down the street, or that banker's box you never found? Clients' tax info? It could be a health-related document left on the copier, or a client's credit card information that wasn't shredded in time. Think about your office. What type of information do you keep or ask from your clients? Do you have a server? Filing cabinets? How do you receive information? Store it? We can examine all of this, but you cannot plan for everything.
Human error is still the number one cause of a data breach, accounting for 41 percent of all breaches. It may not have been a malicious attack, but if you have lost someone else's personal information, your duties going forward will be the same.
A recent study by the Ponemon Institute found the average organizational cost of a data breach to be $214 per compromised record and $7.2 million per event. This begins to add up from the first day a breach is discovered. Companies can incur significant costs doing damage control, even without entering the legal system.
In California, and in 45 other states, laws dictates that a business which has experienced a breach must notify every potential victim as soon as possible. After that, the forensic investigation begins the reconstruction of the system, credit monitoring, etc.
Insurance policies that respond to these situations are often called privacy liability policies or cyber liability policies. They are intended to help a business that has lost information that the business does not own, known as personal information.
Insurers can provide invaluable help to companies as they navigate the post-breach process.
Comprehensive policies will cover a company's liability for numerous types of lost data and due to various methods of loss. Policies will often cover the costs of reconstructing your system, investigations, notifications to clients, credit monitoring, and PR control and image restoration.
Because the frequency of data breaches is on the rise, we are seeing more companies underwriting this type of insurance in California.
But more is not always better and that does not mean they will all be around in two more years.
Do your homework. No two of these policies are written alike and it is important that your business seeks one that is tailored specifically to your needs. In some cases, these policies can be complicated, but they are often simple. As in everything in life, you get what you pay for; the costs are wide ranging but you can usually pick between a few options.
Seek the council of a trusted insurance advisor who knows the current market and coverage available. It will be to your advantage to understand the differences in coverage and weigh those against the potential savings of one or another.
Fields can be reached at 760-931-102 or by email at [email protected]
The topic has been in the news often lately and, last month, the Carlsbad Business Journal offered some tips on how to protect your Wi-Fi network from that type of trouble. There is a growing consensus, however, that if you own a business, it is only a matter of time until you are faced with a data security issue.
To be sure, there are a lot of great tech services you can use to protect private data. But what happens if your business experiences an unfortunate event like a data breach? Would you know what to do next? Could you get help? Could your business afford it? If it can happen to companies like Sony, Citi, Lockheed Martin and Nintendo, it can happen to small and medium business anywhere.
This article will shed some light on one of the ways a business can get crucial help after a data breach: insurance. Are you still there? Good, because this is important. It is likely you don't have access to this crucial help as you read this.
Most thinking around this issue focuses on cyber security measures, which is obviously a great place to start, but not the only step to examine.
Today's businesses are structurally bound to technology, but it is not always a technology related loss of data that can lead to problems.
Ever lost a cell phone or a flash drive? How about a laptop? But how about that file folder that blew down the street, or that banker's box you never found? Clients' tax info? It could be a health-related document left on the copier, or a client's credit card information that wasn't shredded in time. Think about your office. What type of information do you keep or ask from your clients? Do you have a server? Filing cabinets? How do you receive information? Store it? We can examine all of this, but you cannot plan for everything.
Human error is still the number one cause of a data breach, accounting for 41 percent of all breaches. It may not have been a malicious attack, but if you have lost someone else's personal information, your duties going forward will be the same.
A recent study by the Ponemon Institute found the average organizational cost of a data breach to be $214 per compromised record and $7.2 million per event. This begins to add up from the first day a breach is discovered. Companies can incur significant costs doing damage control, even without entering the legal system.
In California, and in 45 other states, laws dictates that a business which has experienced a breach must notify every potential victim as soon as possible. After that, the forensic investigation begins the reconstruction of the system, credit monitoring, etc.
Insurance policies that respond to these situations are often called privacy liability policies or cyber liability policies. They are intended to help a business that has lost information that the business does not own, known as personal information.
Insurers can provide invaluable help to companies as they navigate the post-breach process.
Comprehensive policies will cover a company's liability for numerous types of lost data and due to various methods of loss. Policies will often cover the costs of reconstructing your system, investigations, notifications to clients, credit monitoring, and PR control and image restoration.
Because the frequency of data breaches is on the rise, we are seeing more companies underwriting this type of insurance in California.
But more is not always better and that does not mean they will all be around in two more years.
Do your homework. No two of these policies are written alike and it is important that your business seeks one that is tailored specifically to your needs. In some cases, these policies can be complicated, but they are often simple. As in everything in life, you get what you pay for; the costs are wide ranging but you can usually pick between a few options.
Seek the council of a trusted insurance advisor who knows the current market and coverage available. It will be to your advantage to understand the differences in coverage and weigh those against the potential savings of one or another.
Fields can be reached at 760-931-102 or by email at [email protected]