Written by Lauryn Gibas, Marketing/Communications Associate
If you don’t own a business, like me, you probably don’t know much about cyber. I’ve heard of getting “hacked” and it’s really unfortunate AWFUL for the victims (my twitter was hacked back in 2016 and I’m still scarred to this day), but did you know businesses can (and should) get insurance to protect them in the event they do get hacked? I didn’t until working at the Dearborn Agency.
My credibility on this topic comes from a cyber security webinar offered by “Big I” (an organization for independent insurance agencies) that I attended and the experts that spoke, know the 411 on this topic. I didn’t realize how big of an issue cyber incidents were, but in the webinar I was informed that it is in fact a huge deal. A statistic they mentioned absolutely mind-boggled me, it was that the average ransomware demand is $1.7 million…. huh??? If you don’t have 1.7 million anywhere near your business budget, I would take a look at Multifactor Authentication and cyber insurance. Multifactor Authentication (MFA) is that annoying but extremely necessary, code you need to type in order to log into your accounts. Although it can get annoying, something worse is getting hacked then ransomed into getting your stuff back.
**No, this is not @ you if in middle school you posted a picture of side-part you, cringely (not a word I know) crinkling your forehead on your bestie’s insta with the caption “HACKED love u” **
Businesses that hold sensitive information about clients such as their Social Security numbers and bank information can face fines and legal fees if this information gets out. Your independent insurance agent can offer up some ways to protect your clients, yourself, and your company from cyber-attacks. Your independent agent is (essentially) your personal financial bodyguard: they want the best for you and offer protection against potential threats, but if you snap your fingers and yell “CITRUS!!” they may think you’re a weirdo *if you don’t get this reference you might be too young (or too old) for the Drake and Josh days…*.
What is cyber insurance? I’m glad you asked. Cyber insurance covers your business in the event of a data breach involving sensitive customer information, such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, account numbers… you get the gist. Your cyber policy can cover notifying customers about a data breach, restoring personal identities of affected customers, recovering compromised data, and repairing damaged computer systems. But, don’t quote ME on that, let your independent agent quote YOU on that.
If you have or are part of an organization (large or small), talk to your independent agent about cyber insurance. Protect your business from these serious incidents by implementing MFA and getting cyber insurance. Join in later this week for Keeping Up with Kim’s information about cyber, plus my blog post next week wrapping up this topic (for now).
Join in next week for the Gen-Z insurance Tea, where I’m the CEO of helping you descam the scammers.
