Cyber Security Insurance Questionnaire

Cyber insurance protects your company from financial damage resulting from cyberattacks and data breaches. It can be used to cover credit monitoring, legal costs, penalties, and other high-cost items.

If your company keeps sensitive information like phone numbers, credit card numbers, or Social Security numbers—either online or on a computer—you might be vulnerable to a cyberattack and benefit from cybersecurity insurance.

• Ransomware attempts to extract money from victims by holding corporate systems hostage.
• Intrusion is defined as any illegal activity on your network that steals valuable resources and puts your company’s security at risk. It’s one of the most difficult attacks to detect because it doesn’t always show up as abnormal.
• Malware, short for malicious software, is computer code created by criminals with the goal of gaining unauthorized access to a network or causing serious data or system damage.

Here are some of the things to look for to determine if your website is secure:

• When connecting to a website, your browser can use either the secure HTTPS protocol or the vulnerable HTTP protocol. If a website’s URL starts with HTTP, the connection is unsafe, resulting in the “Not Secure” warning.
• The “s” in “HTTPS” stands for “secure,” indicating that the website is protected by an SSL certificate. This indicates that all communication and data between your browser and the website’s server is encrypted.
• Look for a lock icon near your browser’s location field. If you see it, your site is secure.

Cloning is taking the link to a legitimate document and replacing it with a malicious link. Or, if hackers get into your network, they can do things like:

• They can make up email accounts that look like your company’s top executives.
• Set up an 800 number with an automated response system that includes executive extensions and voicemail boxes.
• Make up fake letterheads and business cards.
• Provide authentic credit references from organizations that your company does business with.

Essentially, they can become your business.

Cloning is just one of the potential effects of cyberattacks on businesses. There are also increased costs, a disruption in your business, a damaged reputation, lost revenue, and you’re going to have to change the way you do business (like adding more security).

If business income is lost and data recovery costs are incurred as a result of a data breach or extortion threat, your policy can cover the losses. Also, if you lose money as a result of a third party’s deception instruction (known as “phishing”).

Your cyber security insurance policy can also cover legal protection from privacy lawsuits and regulatory fines. And If an attack happens, your policy can cover the resources you employ to respond to it.

But every company is different, so you can add coverage to other areas of your business, depending on your needs.

Although the price of cyber insurance varies depending on your type of business, annual revenue, and the extent of responsibility you choose, small business owners should anticipate spending anywhere from $750 to $8,000 per year.

Mid-size and large businesses will often pay much more for coverage because of their increased exposure.

Whether you run a large or small business, you could be a cybercrime target. Small business cyber insurance is generally the same as the insurance offered to larger companies.

When your systems or network are hacked or your data is stolen, first-party coverage can help pay the costs. Third-party coverage protects you when a customer sues you for failing to prevent a data breach at their organization.

But keep this in mind: Researchers at “How Much” found that more than 60% of cyber-breach victims are small-to-mid-size businesses.

You don’t need to look for a company or agent that handles only cyber security insurance. Independent agencies like Autumn Insurance go to great lengths to properly protect you and your clients’’ assets.