With the New Year comes new possibilities. If your work includes online operations, e-commerce, or website hosting, it also comes with new dangers. Hackers have new skills, and the race to keep online security ahead of the ever-changing curve is of great concern. In 2025, cyber insurance will be a necessity like never before.
Cyber Insurance: What It Is and Why It Matters
Cyber insurance is a type of business insurance that protects against financial losses associated with cyberattacks and risks related to the company’s online activities. Due to the frequency and severity of online criminal activity, such as breaches and ransomware, cyber insurance has become crucial for any business with an online presence. While cyber insurance used to be a simple sign-up process, insurance companies are becoming increasingly wary of losses and have imposed new requirements for those applying for coverage.
Top Tips for Purchasing Cyber Insurance
Understand Your Risks
Before you talk to one of our cyber insurance agents, thoroughly review your organization’s operations to identify any potential risks. Your evaluation should include the protections for online sales, customer databases, confidential data storage, or patent-protected applications.
Study Your Options
Shop for the best policy. Have your agent help you review all the options that will best protect your enterprise if you have a breach.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions
Ask as many questions as needed to know which policy is best for you. Taking the time to sift through all the details can make a difference.
What Does My Business Need to Qualify for Cyber Insurance?
Ten years ago, applying for cyber insurance was as easy as filling in your company’s name, number of employees, revenue, and whether or not you had a website. Today, you have more requirements, and you must show that your operation has fairly robust online security to qualify for cyber insurance as part of your business insurance coverage.
- Password protection: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) makes accessing sensitive data more difficult by requiring users to prove their identity using multiple factors.
- Offline data backups: To recover from data being stolen or wiped out, backups that are “air-gapped” and not physically connected to the computer network are necessary.
- Proactive vulnerability management: Online safety requires constant vigilance. Vulnerability management consists of conducting regular scans of your digital presence to locate and mitigate potential weaknesses that bad actors could exploit.
- Real-time detection and response: Having an assigned cyber security employee or contractor responsible for responding to emerging cyber threats in real time helps to mitigate potential risks.
- Security awareness training: Hackers can use the vulnerabilities of human staff to trick unwitting employees into giving away passwords or confirming confidential information. A vigorous security awareness training program keeps staff on their toes and vigilant against threats.
Protect Your Business with Cyber Insurance Coverage
Cyber insurance can help you recover quickly from losses sustained by downtime, business interruption, data restoration, and the reputational damage caused by a data breach. Our agents are available and ready to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have regarding a new cyber policy or your eligibility for coverage.