Why Your Chicago Business Needs Cyber Liability Insurance

The field of cybersecurity is continuously growing in terms of importance to businesses, and for good reason. The style, sophistication, and volume of cyber attacks multiply on what seems like a daily basis. Organizations of all sizes must protect themselves from and respond to cyber attacks such as ransomware or other malware. Meanwhile, hackers and other malicious actors continue to pursue new and creative ways to infiltrate business systems.

To counteract this, every business should have cyber liability insurance. But for companies that have never purchased or managed cyber liability insurance, this may seem like a challenging ask. First, it helps to understand why your Chicago-area business must possess cyber liability insurance.

Let’s take a closer look at why your Chicago business needs cyber liability insurance and how you can develop the best plan for getting it.

Cyber Liability Insurance: A Definition

If you’ve ever purchased an insurance policy, you know you buy coverage to protect yourself in an accident or incident. That’s how cyber liability insurance works. It’s a policy that helps you remedy any economic setbacks you experience due to a cyber incident.

What your cyber liability insurance covers will depend on the company and policy you choose. That’s why you’ll want a solid understanding of what to look for before finalizing the deal. Some examples of common protection areas include:

Notifications for anyone who has been compromised
Public relations costs
Situational awareness of customer credit activity

Cyber liability insurance helps businesses mitigate the impact of a lawsuit related to a specific cybersecurity incident or event. Data breaches can be rife with complications for companies and their customers; a cyber liability insurance policy can go a long way toward ameliorating a company’s financial hit sustained as a result of an attack.

Here’s What Cyber Liability Insurance Will Help You Deal With

When you buy insurance, you want to know the cost. While there’s no way to predict the overall cost without knowing the specifics of the policy, you can accurately understand what you’ll be missing out on if you opt for no cyber liability insurance. You’ll be exposing your company to a significant amount of risk.

The truth is that cyber liability insurance provides you with something valuable: peace of mind. It also helps offset several problems that can arise due to a cyber-attack.

Here are just a few examples of challenges that cyber liability insurance can help you address:

An interruption to the flow of revenue or general business operations

A cyber attack can disrupt your overall business continuity. It can effectively shut down your ability to operate. Once this happens, you can see a loss of revenue before you can get back online. A company is only as successful as its ability to stay operational. There is no business without being able to do business or generate revenue. Cyber liability insurance can help you offset these costs.

Fees associated with legal issues

If you have customers, a cyber attack may expose their data. For example, a hacker could gain access to all your customers’ credit card numbers. In some cases, you may be held liable for this. With cyber liability insurance, you can protect yourself from the many legal fees you may run up responding to the attack.

Damage to your hardware/software

When a cyber-attack makes your equipment fail to work, this can significantly impact your ability to connect with customers. If you need to replace or fix any equipment harmed in a cyber incident, that costs time and money. Cyber liability insurance can help cover those costs to get you back.

Public perception

Cyber attacks, and specifically data breaches, create a negative connotation for your business. Customers will doubt you, and public perception may also go against you. To manage this, you’ll need to mount a robust and proactive PR campaign to alleviate these symptoms. With funding to do this, you can tell your customers that you’re aware of the problem, dealing with it, and why it will never happen again.

Monitoring and analysis

While there are many essential aspects of your cyber response efforts, one of the most critical components is to understand how you can learn from the attack. That way, you can prevent a similar incident from impairing you in the future. The right analysis tools will cost you. Cyber liability insurance can help manage these costs. That way, you can use the attack to strengthen your cyber posture instead of letting it continually fail your customers.

Notifying your customers

You’ll have to notify your customers once a breach has occurred. This goes beyond reassuring them that you’re handling the problem – it also involves letting them know what kind of data they’ve shared may be at risk. Cyber liability insurance can assist with the costs associated with these notifications.

Cyber Liability Insurance Helps You Better Manage Your Company’s Risk

The truth is that cyber threats are constantly present and ever-changing. The strategies and attack vectors used by malicious actors grow more sophisticated by the day. While you can never truly remove these risks with 100% certainty, there are plenty of measures you can take to help your company bolster its cybersecurity posture. One of the best methods is buying a comprehensive cyber liability insurance policy.

To do so, you’ll want to have a trusted IT services provider alongside you, acting as a guide to help you navigate the complexities of cyber liability insurance. For Chicago area businesses, that partner is CEU Technologies.

CEU Technologies can help manage your technology so you can focus on managing your business. Our team, led by CEO David Carreiro, designs and builds IT data centers for global companies within the healthcare and financial sectors. We can walk you through the process of ensuring you get the right cyber liability insurance.

Why Your Chicago Business Needs Cyber Liability Insurance