September 2019 The wide-spread adoption of technology has resulted in increasingly sophisticated and ever-evolving cyber risks, and their impact on your business can be disastrous if these risks are not proactively considered and mitigated against.
As part of the Government’s National Cyber Security programme, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport commissioned the Cyber Security Breaches Survey of UK businesses and charities.
In their 2019 report, it was revealed that while 32% of businesses had identified cyber breaches or attacks, just 11% of the surveyed businesses had invested in cyber insurance. Within these 32% of businesses, 30% experienced a negative outcome as a direct result of their incidents, such as the loss of data or assets.
The loss of data holds a number of implications, and businesses are legally obliged to notify the Information Commissioner of any data breaches, particularly incidents that involve personal data. We know that this process can be a very alarming and damaging experience, especially as this may result in costly fines and the business being investigated themselves.
In addition, businesses must then notify all of the affected customers, which brings the risk of subsequent reputational damage. In any such instances, having an insurer by your side to help facilitate and steer you through the process - including paying any financial loss if applicable under your policy - is invaluable!
The survey’s qualitative findings also suggest that businesses may be underestimating the true cost and impact of cyber security breaches as they often did not consider the indirect and intangible costs, such as reputational damage and breakdowns in client-supplier relationships.
This survey highlights the importance of taking a holistic approach to cyber insurance, which is often modular and can be pieced together to ensure that your coverage appropriately suits the specific needs of your business.
As an independent insurance broker, we can help you to remedy this; instead of siloed-thinking, whereby you focus on one specific section of cyber risk, comprehensive coverage requires a holistic approach in which the potential wider impact of cyber attacks are considered and protected against, such as business continuity, reputational damage and client-supplier relationships.
To find out more about how we can help you to protect your business from direct and indirect cyber risks, get in touch with us today.
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