It is no longer out of the ordinary to hear about a company dealing with the crippling effects of a cyber breach, or an unsuspecting individual who has found themselves the victim of identity theft. With COVID-19 driving many of us to do business and transactions almost exclusively online, the risk is higher than ever that a mis-click on a malicious link or having insufficient security on your online payment platform can spell a cyber-security crisis. So, let’s talk about how your trusted insurance broker can help keep you, your business, and your clients a little safer navigating those potentially treacherous online waters.
Common Forms of Data Security Crimes
Some of the most common forms of data breaches include malware and ransomware, social engineering frauds, and network extortions. Your unsuspecting employee working from home on a company device may click a link which was designed to look like it came from you and open the network up to hackers who could then ransom you for the information they now have access to. Perhaps your trusty, well-used password combination on your small business’ banking information isn’t as un-hackable as you thought.
Whatever the manner of cyber breach, having no-one to turn to for guidance on picking up the pieces could be just as damaging as the event itself. The financial fallout, not to mention the reputational harm, potential privacy and regulatory penalties, client trust, and productivity loss that can all occur in the wake of a cyber breach are situations no one wants to find themselves without crucial insurance coverage. With well-crafted cyber security insurance in place, you can access the insurer’s forensic cyber security experts, breach notification services, legal advice, and access to restoration contractors.
In the case of network extortion with ransom ware, the insurer’s cyber claims specialists will know how to handle the complicated clean-up you might find yourself facing, from whether to negotiate a bitcoin settlement demand or not, to what your responsibilities are for advising your own clients of a successful data breach where their sensitive information may have been compromised.
The Reality of Cyber Fraud by the Numbers
While you may feel secure and confident in your cybersecurity hygiene without coverage, consider some of these statistics from cyber-security and breach data reports: a very concerning 80% of North American organizations report having faced a cyber-attack in the past year, and even more alarming, 21% said they had faced 10 or more.
In 2020, phishing accounted for 22% of data breaches, and then bolted steeply upwards in 2021 to 36%, showing the low-difficulty technique that 78% of cyber-thieves favoured in 2019 is more lucrative than ever for them.
3 in 10 Canadian organizations reported an observable spike in cyber threats since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 25% of small businesses say they have been targeted, and a staggering $101 million in losses have been reported due to cyber-crime (up drastically from $83.8 million in 2019) – a stark reminder that a cyber security mishap can happen to any business and the cost can be devastating.