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Congratulations on reaching the stage in your business where you need cyber insurance! While this is an accomplishment, we know it’s not all been s’mores and ice cream. Buying cyber insurance for your business is a milestone. But it’s a milestone you certainly don’t want to trip over.
When buying cyber liability insurance you should at least be mindful of these 4 things so that you can make an informed decision:
A cyber insurance quote will typically include 3 things: the total amount of coverage, the annual premium, and the retention amount. Generally the total amount of coverage refers to your coverage for the main cyber liability risks (network security, network business interruption, media liability, errors and omissions). You want to first make sure your cyber insurance policy covers those 4. Since cyber insurance policies are not yet standardized, it pays to at least take a glance at what’s covered. In many cases liability coverage of less than $1,000,000 may not be enough because if you do have a claim you may be drawing on multiple aspects of the policy at once given the nature of cyber attacks.
Retention is a fancy way of saying deductible. The International Risk Management Institute defines it like this: Assumption of risk of loss by means of non insurance, self-insurance, or deductibles. Assumption of risk just means what we pay out of pocket if we have a claim. It’s important to consider what your retention will be versus the amount of coverage you purchase because that is how much you’re on the hook for before insurance kicks in.
Many business owners buy cyber insurance from their current insurance agent. They simply call their insurance agent and tell them they want to add cyber insurance to their policy. This method works fine in theory but you may want to think twice before doing that because they may set you up with an “add on” policy which could only be a rider that doesn’t cover everything you need. A smarter route that is more economical in the long run is to use a platform like ours to get quotes from multiple insurers and compare them to choose the best one.
This is a very important point. Not all cyber insurance policies are created equal. You want to look out for whether your policy covers the most common things that can go wrong these days like ransomware etc. Every industry has slightly different risks but you certainly want to ensure that you’re covered for: breaches of your network, theft of personal information, and lost income due to business interruption. The FTC has done a good job of outlining other things to consider here as well, but this is a start.
If you’re looking for a way to secure cyber insurance without having to worry whether you’ve made a misstep, you should consider giving us a try. Our platform gets you cyber insurance quotes from multiple carriers all at once so that they compete for your business. This means you’re protected from being under insured since you can choose the best coverage that suits your needs.
