Technology Tuesday: 3 Things to know about Cyber-Security in Insurance
The liability and risk exposures stemming from business websites can be tremendous. Every other day you hear about a breach of a company in which they steal personal information, credit numbers, etc . This means unless you have specific Cyber Liability in place, you could be facing a number of liability issues for your company. Here are three things to know as the industry enters a year of increasingly heightened cyber-vulnerability.
It doesn’t matter who did it
In the event of a cyberattack, your first response might be to hunt down the perpetrator. While this might provide closure, pinning down the source of the breach will do little to protect the business from future hacks. Further, the process of finding the responsible party will cost a lot of time and effort that could be better spent on boosting security.
Instead of wasting resources on searching for the cyber-criminal, focus on identifying the vulnerability that led to the attack and exactly which information was affected. Learning from past mistakes is an essential step towards creating a more comprehensive security strategy.
The cost of breaches
Research published by NetDiligence indicates that hackers and malware were responsible for about 97% of lost records in 2014 — and caused a lot of pricey damage. The median cost of incidents caused by hackers was $242,762, with the most expensive one totaling $11.75 million.
The study also shows that the sources and costs of data breaches vary widely according to industry. Healthcare, which filed 23% of claims, topped them all. Financial services accounted for 22% of all claims filed and were also hardest hit by third-party breaches. Financial institutions comprised 32% of all third-party incidents. Each cost about $288,000 on average.
Communicate with customers
As demonstrated by Anthem’s response to its own cyberattack, it’s essential to communicate with customers before, during, and after a data breach. By publicly announcing the attack and providing the information it could, Anthem demonstrated transparency and built a level of trust with its customers.
In the aftermath of a data breach, executives may be tempted to withhold information until they believe they have all the answers they need. The problem is, customers don’t expect you to have all the answers right away — and those answers might take a long time to find. So long as your company shares information as it receives it, and is openly working with authorities to investigate the breach, customers will be more accepting.
BB Insurance Marketing is a full-service insurance agency located in South Florida that specializes in business, personal and benefits insurance. Childcare, gas stations, pest control and restaurants are just a few of the niche markets we work in. BBIMI’s insurance expertise extends all across the state, so we’ve got you covered with a quality policy you can depend on!