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Cyber crime, is your business covered?
The following blog comes courtesy of one of our expert risk advisers, Damon Edwards and was featured in the Ballarat Courier
Today’s article focuses on the fastest growing crime in the world – cyber crime. We’ll talk about the increase in incidents and what you can do to fully protect yourself.
All companies handle data and personal corporate information on a daily basis and as such, they have a responsibility to ensure it is kept secure. Be it personal identity card or passport numbers, employee profiles, credit card information, medical records, sensitive demographic information about customers, information on budgets, customer lists or marketing plans. Therefore, businesses face real issues if such data falls into the wrong hands or enters the public domain.
A 2011 Deloitte Cyber Crime survey of the Asia Pacific region found that 75% respondents had been victims of cyber crime. In the same year, Symantec commissioned a study which put the cost of cybercrime to Australians at $4.5 billion per year with the average cost of a data breach reaching $2.16 million. Unfortunately with the roll out of NBN – not to mention the increased use of smart phones – it’s likely the speed and frequency of attacks will increase.
Having up to date virus protection and a firewall may not be enough to keep the cyber criminals at bay. Understanding that standard Business Insurance policies generally don’t provide cover for cyber crimes, a specific Cyber Insurance policy should be considered.
Cyber Insurance can cover expenses such as:
- Claims arising out of an actual or alleged Breach of Personal Information against the insured
- Breach of Corporate Information against the insured
- Breach of Personal or Corporate Information against an outsourced organisation for which the insured is liable
- Acts, errors or omissions that results in contamination of Third Party Data or Corporate Information by viruses etc. This includes theft of passwords, deletion/corruption of data or theft of hardware,
- Notification & monitoring costs – writing to customers/clients to make them aware of the breach etc.
- Electronic Data restoration and recollection costs
- Forensic Investigation costs – determining the extent of data breaches
- Repair of a Company’s or individual’s reputation following a breach
- Cyber Extortion – many cyber criminals are locking companies networks and demanding a ransom to unlock
Contact us today to discuss how we can provide protection for cyber related risks.