Cyber liability insurance policies (also known as “data breach” insurance) and their coverage vary dramatically by insurance carriers. For businesses, choosing the right cyber liability insurance policy can be a challenge. Working with a knowledgeable insurance broker who has experience with cyber liability insurance policies can reduce the challenges.
Before you start shopping, though, there are a few things you need to do to get ready:
1) Assess your cyber hygiene
Before applying for cyber liability insurance, businesses should have policies and procedures in place that show they are protecting and securing their data as well as enforcing their security and privacy policies. While cyber liability insurance can help businesses mitigate risks, it cannot replace good cyber hygiene.
2) Evaluate your needs and priorities
Has your business assessed its risks for a data breach? Depending on your industry, your risk for a data breach may be considered anywhere from minimal to very high.
Has your business conducted a risk assessment? Evaluate, identify and mitigate any gaps in your privacy and security programs prior to applying for a cyber liability insurance policy. The risk assessment can help you assess your needs for cyber liability policy coverage matched to your business vulnerabilities.
3) Predict your data breach
Once you have assessed your risks, you will want to think of as many possible data breach scenarios as you can that could happen to your business. The purpose of this exercise is to arm you with potential data breach scenarios and prepare you to go on a search, with a knowledgeable insurance broker, for a cyber liability policy that fits your needs. While this may seem like a time-consuming process, it could help ensure that you’re covered in the event one of these scenarios happens. The whole purpose of purchasing cyber liability insurance, after all, is to ensure that you are protected from potential risk.
After these three steps, you are ready to compare different cyber liability insurance policies.
*Disclaimer: Conditions apply for each policy and the information expected from you for a policy to trigger. Coverage may differ based on specific clauses in individual policies. Please ask your broker to explain the additional benefits and exclusions pertaining to your policy.
“The information provided is general advice only and does not take account of your personal circumstances or needs. Please refer to our financial services guide which contains details of our services and how we are remunerated.”
