Unfortunately, hacking affects everyone, it no longer is just large organizations. As a business owner you have a much greater risk with the repercussions of hackers being detrimental to your business. According to the US National Cyber Security Alliance, 60% of small businesses that suffer a cyber-attack go out of business within half a year. That’s right—if a cybercriminal successfully breaches your small business’s data, it can completely take you and your business out. Cyber-attacks cost a lot of money to bounce back from and, unfortunately, most small businesses can’t come up with the funds to do so. That is why Cyber Liability is one of the smartest ways to protect your business.
On Monday September 13th 2021, Apple faced a severe spy vulnerability hack. Security researchers discovered a flaw that allows highly invasive spyware from Israel’s NSO Group to infect anyone’s iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac computer without so much as a click. The spyware, called Pegasus, used a novel method to invisibly infect Apple devices without victims’ knowledge. Known as a “zero click remote exploit,” it is considered the Holy Grail of surveillance because it allows governments, mercenaries and criminals to secretly break into someone’s device without tipping the victim off. Using the zero-click infection method, Pegasus can turn on a user’s camera and microphone, record messages, texts, emails, calls, even those sent via encrypted messaging and phone apps and send them back to NSO’s clients at governments around the world.
The effects of a hack like Pegasus would be disastrous to any business that does not have Cyber Liability Protection. Cyber Liability generally covers your business' liability for a data breach involving sensitive customer information, such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, account numbers, driver's license numbers and health records. In Apple’s case, it was potentially an invasion of the victim's messages and personal privacy. This hack could potentially; if not insured properly, result in ransoms being requested in order to regain control over the company, which in these types of cases usually hackers request a massive amount of money and hefty lawsuits could be filed from the victims whose data was breached. Thus, costing your business a ton of money and your reputation.
People often assume that their General Liability covers cyber attacks but that is often excluded from a General Liability Policy. Cyber liability insurance can cover costs associated with data breaches and cyber attacks on your business. Those costs can include such things as lost income due to a cyber event, costs associated with notifying customers affected by a breach, costs for recovering compromised data, costs for repairing damaged computer systems and more. Typically, there are three kinds of insurance protection; Data Compromise Protection which includes credit monitoring and services, Identity recovery protection which helps victims of identity fraud restore their credit history and Cyber Protection which protects your business against damage caused by a virus or computer attack, as well as helping with the cost of restoring and recreating data.
As technology becomes more complex and sophisticated, so do the threats that businesses face. This is why every business and organization needs to be prepared with both Cyber Liability Insurance and an effective cyber security plan to manage and mitigate cyber risk. At Majdas Touch Insurance we offer many Cyber Insurance options and would be honored to help you and your business stay protected with the right coverages for you at the best price possible.
