What are some fundamental details about cyber risk insurance in Canada that you should be aware of? How does cyber-attack insurance coverage operate and why is it crucial for every Canadian company that keeps customers’ digital data?
Having the necessary safeguards in place to prevent and respond to an attack is more important than ever given the rise in cyber-attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. By using software that your business depends on to function, such as email and text messaging, cyber-criminals can steal your data in a matter of seconds.
On the other hand, for many small businesses, dealing with the possibility of a cyber-attack is frequently an afterthought. To better understand how small businesses in Canada perceive their cyber-security risks, we partnered with Leger, a Canadian market research and analytics firm, to conduct a study of 422 organizations across various industries in September 2020. One of our key findings is that only 15% have established preventative IT and personnel training, and only 11% have invested in cyber risk insurance.
What can you do to better prepare your business for a cyber attack? is a question you may have. Here are some important cyber risk statistics that could help your business bounce back from ominous intrusions
You should regularly back up all of your data.
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In a ransomware attack, a hacker infects your computer with a virus that encrypts your data. They request cash in exchange for your information. You won’t need to worry about this if you regularly backup your data because you will be able to restore from the most current backup.
Although it will be far more challenging for your firm to resume operations if you haven’t performed a backup in a month, you’re more likely to be locked out of your system and unable to access vital data. You shouldn’t even have to pay the ransom to get your data back because you should have recently backed up your data.
You have access to a number of simple and cost-free methods for backing up your data. Remember the following advice:
- Compared to local storage, adopting cloud storage for accounting has a few benefits. In the event that your external hard drive is destroyed in any way, you might not be able to access your data.
- Determine which data needs to be backed up individually. Some of your applications may already be backed up in the cloud (for instance, if you use Google Workspace).
- To ensure that you are backing up everything you require, take some time to organize your data.
Security must be maintained for all customer information, including non-financial data.
Although businesses tend to prioritize protecting financial client information, all customer information is valuable and should be protected. This is so that they can cause significant financial harm without needing access to financial information. A name or birthday may be worth up to $1.50 on the black market, while a passport or driver’s license number may be worth up to $35, according to Symantec’s 2019 Internet Security Threat report.
How long after obtaining credit card information may a cyber-criminal use it for illegal activities? Even while it might take customers and companies a month or two to realize a card has been compromised, the card will probably be terminated right away and have a limited shelf life.
While it might take customers and companies a month or two to realize a card has been stolen, the card will probably be canceled right once and have a limited shelf life. What if the same hacker exploited social media sites to gather enough personal information to commit identity theft after gaining access to names, emails, and home addresses? It frequently takes years for victims of this kind of crime to recover.
Despite the fact that the information exposed was unrelated to finance, scenarios like the one above demonstrate some of the reasons why businesses have been subject to class-action lawsuits after their data was accessed.
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When a corporation gets hacked, other things besides class-action lawsuits could go wrong.
The cost of hiring reputation-management specialists to handle a crisis might be high, and they won’t be the only individuals you need to employ. Even if your business is technologically adept, you won’t want to attempt to retrieve your compromised data from cyber-theft and restore it to your systems on your own.
The amount of potential money lost during that time can quickly stack up because it can take a long time to get a firm back up and operating following a cyber attack.
In conclusion, firms that have suffered from a cyber attack are concerned about litigation, but they aren’t the only hazard; other dangers might be just as harmful.
If you possess electronic data, cyber risk insurance is crucial
Of the 422 small firms we surveyed, only 11% have insurance against cyber risks or data breaches.Given that it can help a business with all of the aforementioned nightmare situations, cyber insurance is something to think about.
If you don’t remember to back up your data, insurance can help you deal with the financial costs of a cyber attack. Insurance can assist you in paying the costs if your business is hacked and you have to hire a reputation management specialist.
