Introduction
Breach prevention strategies have become more and more advanced. Businesses rely on these protective measures to stop hackers before they compromise files and steal finances, which is why it’s so important for cybersecurity experts to constantly invent smarter protections. The war against hacking is never-ending, with both sides trying to stay ahead of the other. Although the good side wins a lot of battles, cybercriminals are working just as tirelessly to outpace every new obstacle thrown their way. Even the best cybersecurity systems fail, and that leaves businesses vulnerable to attack. Or does it?
With cyber liability insurance, businesses can set up a safety net to protect them in the aftermath of an attack. From monetary repercussions to rebuilding client trust, cyber insurance provides the help necessary to get back on track.
Cyber Liability: Preparing for the Worst
What’s the worst thing you can imagine happening to your business? What if it came true: Hackers breaching your secure network and launching denial-of-service attacks followed by theft of files, accessing the company bank account and sending out phishing emails to your entire client list. In the best-case scenario, your team of cybersecurity experts would get right to work and recover everything. Yet by the time you’re back up and running, you might have sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into the recovery effort. At least the business is safe, right?
The bad news might not end when the breach is fixed. Between recouping the damages, redoing work and thanking the I.T. experts, small to medium-sized businesses lose an average of $25K to $50K per cyberattack. It’s more than just about the immediate damages to the company, but the long-term effects too. 60% of small businesses will fail in the half year following an attack. Financial protection may be all that keeps them afloat as they recuperate from the damages.
That’s where cyber liability insurance comes in. When you need to pay for lawyers, to check your credit, pay fines and generally recover from the attack, cyber insurance is there. It protects not just your business, but also your customers’ privacy and peace of mind.
How to De-Risk Your Business
Cyber liability insurance focuses on mitigating the aftermath of the attack. There’s a lot to do after a breach: Not only do you have to recover professional data, but you must de-risk every customer in the company database too. Cyber insurance doesn’t only help restore you back to your previous, bustling success; it can also send updates about the situation to clients for transparency, go toward restoring their information and privacy, and help with the expenses of recovering their stolen data.
Customer relationship management is crucial to regaining their trust. After a breach, it’s natural to wonder if you can be trusted to keep their data safe in the future; and loyalty is everything. If they lose faith in your ability to keep their identifying information locked tight, they will go elsewhere for their business. Honesty is crucial, because it’s always better to learn what you’re doing to fix the situation directly from the source. Keep them up to date with everything you’re doing to repair the damages done to them and the business, because breaches happen, but they don’t have to be the end of client relationships.
There are a lot of domino effects that occur after a cyberattack, all of which contribute to the relatively high closure rates that follow a hack. Making sure your customers feel secure in your prevention and reaction responses goes a long way toward cultivating positive relationships they know they can rely on. Keep in mind: Many U.S. states mandate companies to reach out to customers if a breach compromises their information. Cyber insurance helps cover these necessary costs that will be coming out of pocket, anyway.
And yes, we mean when. Every technological development that makes businesses safer incentivizes the dark side of the web to get creative, too. This is why the cyber war never ends. It’s better to assume the worst and be prepared in an emergency than find yourself in the middle of the recovery period without a life raft.
Cyber Security and Insurance, Together
The best cybersecurity considers every stage of an attack, including the long-term. Good prevention strategies minimize the damage you’ll need to recoup after a breach, and a strong tech team speeds up the process so the criminals have less time inside your system, therefore giving them a smaller window of opportunity to act.
Cyber insurance swoops in to help when hackers find their way through the best defenses that technology has to offer. Prevention, reaction and recovery all work together to keep the business, and its clients, as secure as possible when the worst occurs.
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