Technology is a big part of what makes your business run but it can also expose your business to risk.  In today’s connected world, cybercrime is a growing industry.  The returns for criminals can be high and the risk to them is relatively low.  Because of this, all companies who use technology are vulnerable to data breaches from hackers, dishonest employees or accidents.  

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Over the past few years cyber-attacks have increased 358%.  Criminals are actively searching for small business, municipalities and persons they can defraud, hold systems for ransom or blackmail.  These attacks can be devastating, and most businesses have a difficult time recovering. 

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Even if you already have some cyber coverage included in your commercial package policy, it may not have sufficient limits, or be broad enough, to cover the types of threats we’re seeing.  

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More businesses are switching to a separate Cyber Insurance policy outside of their package policy to get the broadest coverage.  Cyber Insurance can offer many benefits to your company depending on the program you choose.  It can provide financial resiliency in case of a serious breach, recovery for lost data, notification requirements for your clients, business income and forensics to find the hole in your security to prevent future attacks.  

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Cyber insurance alone is not enough to protect your business but it should be considered an important part of every company’s overall security strategy.  Cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated and with that it is only a matter of time before an incident occurs.  

 

Why attacks are increasing:

 

Two of the most common ways business experience a cyber event are:

• Brute force attacks against exposed remote desktop services (RDP)

• And Email Phishing Attacks

 

RDP Services

The pandemic changed the way many businesses operate including allowing more employees to work remotely.   Unfortunately, the systems that enable employees to connect to the office also open doors for attacks.  Cyber criminals are actively scanning businesses, looking for any with weak security. 

 

As these attacks have increased, more businesses are adding multi-factor authentication (MFA) to their security stack.  MFA works similar to when you login to a bank online. The user supplies their user ID and password and then they are sent a text or notification to their phone with a pin to put in.  Another name for MFA is 2-step authentication.  MFA should be considered by any business to protect their systems and more Cyber Insurance companies are now requiring it.     

 

Email Phishing

Criminals know employees can be easy targets. They actively seek to trick your employees into clicking on a link or opening an attachment which can result in ransomware or data loss.  They also use social engineering to trick your employee into wiring them a payment or sending confidential information. 

 

Is Cyber Insurance right for my business?

 

Almost all businesses have some form of cyber exposure that puts them at risk.  Some questions you may consider are:

 

• Does your business store customer information?

• Does your business perform online payments?

• Does your business use any cloud services?

• Does your business allow employees to work remotely?

• Does your business send or receive wire transfers?

 

Unfortunately, 60% of small businesses that experience a cyber attack or data breach go out of business within six months of falling victim. 

 

Cyber Insurance can be a valuable tool in protecting your business when you experience data breaches, notification requirements, ransomware, invoice manipulation, and social engineering. 

 

Some Cyber Insurance companies such as BCS even go a step further by offering additional cyber security tools that can help mitigate the risk of a cyber attack such as:

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• Employee Phishing Training

• Network Scanning

• Malicious Email Blocking

• And Harmful Website Blocking

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How can I get a quote?

The Hartwell Corporation’s mission is to be your trusted advisor. We want all our clients to know the exposures in today’s data connected world and the available cyber coverage.  
 
If you want a cyber insurance quote for your business, please use the below button to complete a quick form.  Once we have this information we can usually turn a quote around quickly so you can review if the coverage is right for your business.

 

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