Techinsure

Business interruption insurance covers your business for loss of income, typically as a result of damage to physical items, during periods when they can’t operate as usual. And claims will only be accepted for the specific set of perils specified in the policy.

Commercial insurance policy won’t include cover for business interruption claims following a cyber-attack (one that results in the damage of non-physical items). Therefore, your existing business interruption insurance likely won’t cover loss of income if your business is unable to function following a cyber-attack, which could last for several weeks.

The work involved to resolve an attack will require specialist services such as IT forensics and legal. Our specialist cyber policy will ensure that your business is covered for loss of income due to these issues.

Your business will have legal obligations in the case of a data breach — and professional legal guidance, as included in many cyber policies, can be useful to understand what they are.

Legal guidance will include telling you whether you need to inform the ICO and/or your customers, and what you need to tell them. A cyber policy can cover the cost of informing individuals affected by the breach and providing credit monitoring services (where required).

IT providers can create a strong line of defence for their customers against each of these but even the best security and trained staff can be breached. Cyber insurance policies can ensure that even businesses that are well protected are equipped to deal with an attack and recover as quickly as possible.

1. Ransomware (or an extortionate attack) is malicious software that infects computers and withholds access to a business’s own data until a ransom is paid.
2. Human error continues to be the biggest source of hacks, including when laptops are lost or passwords are stored insecurely; staff training is key to avoid this.
3. Phishing is a social engineering hack used by hackers who masquerade as a trusted entity (e.g. your customer, bank or partner) in order to persuade legitimate users to give up passwords or information.
4. Data hack is the exploitation of a computer or network from an external source for illicit purposes.
5. Zero-day attack is one that’s new and hasn’t been seen before. For example, it could be a new type of phishing email or malware that an attacker uses to access your systems.

Following a cyber incident, you must first notify your insurer. You’ll receive reassurance and be asked to provide any information that’s available to you. Following this, you’ll get a call back to discuss the incident in more detail and agree next stages, including the appointment of an appropriate incident response service. You’ll be regularly informed of the process and supported throughout. With an assessment of the incident completed, a solution will be provided.

The final stages are recovery and settlement. The restoration of the backup data will occur at this time, once it’s confirmed that your systems are safe and clear of the attacker.

Attacks against household brands make the news but attacks on smaller organisations are often more frequent. Cyber criminals often operate similarly; instead of targeting the most valuable businesses, they target the most vulnerable. This is why a cyber insurance policy is critical to help ensure that your business is protected, no matter the size, in the event of a cyber-attack.

Damage to your business’s reputation is often underestimated. For example, if a taxi business suffered a cyber-attack, they could lose access to their bookings. This would prevent them from knowing what bookings to fulfil for which customers and how to contact them. The risk to smaller businesses, who are less able to cope with a loss of clients, can be even greater.

The solution is to proactively manage your cyber risk. Businesses with IT providers may receive support from them but it’s important to have the right experts on hand if a cyber-attack occurs. Executing a proactive communications response with effective crisis response management is critical to reassuring clients and minimising long-term reputational damage. This is where a cyber insurance policy can prove invaluable. The right policy will include provision for the engagement of communications and PR specialists who can step in to help a business quickly manage correspondence to customers following an attack.