Personal Data
Personal Data and How Cyber Liability insurance Protects You Against the Reality Of A Security Breach
The Internet has allowed people to communicate or transfer information with a click of a button. Furthermore, the information being sent is able to reach its destination in a matter of seconds or minutes wherever it may be located in the world as long there is internet access. For businesses, this opened up a new medium for communicating and marketing with customers. However, like most good things, it comes with downsides waiting to rear its ugly head when hackers gain access to customer’s personal data.
Cyber crime and Access to Personal Data is on the Rise
These last few years have, there are a lot of cyber–crime related cases such as theft of employee and personal data, defamation, copyright infringement and virus attacks that are appearing. As the Internet’s reach goes farther, more and more cases have appeared on regular bases in the news. The bigger or the popular the company, the more it gets attention from the news channels.
If you think that big companies are immune to cyber attacks, then you are wrong. There have been a couple of cases in which big companies have been infiltrated by hackers. These breaches are expensive costing companies millions of dollars.
Big or Small: All Companies Are At Risk to Breach of Personal Data
If big companies are at risk of cyber attacks, despite the fact they are already spending millions of dollars in cyber security, then how would a small to medium business would fare against cyber attacks. In fact, according to the recent statistics, cyber-related attacks on small businesses rose from 141 reported incidents in 2009 to 761 reported incidents in 2010.
Most small businesses are at risk of being a target for cyber attacks since they own, at least one, computer network, personal information database and credit card transaction records.
Mobile Devices Up the Incidence of Access to Personal Data
With the advent of mobile devices, the risk of a security breach just increased. More and more people are making use of smartphones, tablets and laptops when accessing databases and emails. This means that sensitive information is being relayed on unsecured public networks. Even if the sensitive information has not abused by perpetrators, the fact remain that it was accessed by unauthorized personnel or lost, it still technically considered as a breach.
Taking Access to Secure Personal Data and Minimize Liability Risk
Now comes the question, how can you protect you business from the possible cost of security breaches? This is a serious question that every business should ask itself, especially considering the fact that big companies with thousand to millions of dollars invested in cyber security are still being infiltrated.
This is where Cyber Liability Insurance comes-in. Even though it is not completely possible to prevent security breaches, you can still protect your business from cyber attacks worst case scenarios. Cyber Liability Insurance, also known as Online Liability Insurance or Internet Liability Insurance, is able to protect your business from claims such as malware or virus causing system damage, libelous content found on the website of the company and security breaches. Furthermore, it will also protect you from financial losses due to an Internet downtime or failures of company’s website.
Cyber Liability insurance will also provide a specialist for protection, and this is not usually included with general liability insurance. This kind of insurance will also help you minimize any business interruption that may have resulted after a claim and it will also cover the financial cost that is related to the breach of personal data. It will protect you from the risk and costs associated with lawsuits, security updates and clean-ups.