It is a question that is being asked a lot more frequently by clients and the answer can be confusing. Online businesses face increasing risks associated with doing business online. Companies who face an higher risk include:
- Online Retailers including Supermarkets & Department Stores
- Hospitality Providers including Hotels, Pubs & Restaurants
- Professional Services including Lawyers, Accountants, Media & Technology companies
- Travel Providers including Airlines, Travel Agents & Tour Operators
- Healthcare Providers including Doctors, Dentists & other Private Healthcare Providers
At present, the majority of insurers do not provide adequate protection for the risks that the digital age brings. Covers such as professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance including IT liability insurance are traditionally the most common line of insurance taken out, but is this cover enough?
Do these covers give you the protection you need? Do they give you any cover at all?
Technology Exposures Outpacing Available Insurance
Unfortunately, for online businesses, technology is moving at a pace significantly faster than the traditional insurers can keep up.
Currently, if you have a business insurance policy do you have cover if:
- You send an email with a virus that causes damage to the recipients computer?
- Someone hacks into your website and takes it offline, changes the information or holds your website hostage?
- Your customers credit card information is stolen from your online store?
The answer to all three questions is most likely ‘NO‘.
This means that you have zero cover should one of these incidents occur.
Cyber Insurance Can Protect Your Online Business
Cyber Insurance or in some places Privacy Protection Insurance is the new cover on the Australian market designed for your ‘online’ type exposures. The cover has been around in Australia for only a short period of time but in the USA & UK, it has been sold for almost 10 years.
Australian insurers are slowly getting these types of cover to the market, but it will remain the insurance industries best kept secret for a few years to come.
The good news is that a solution is here. Not only that, this cover is now a viable solution for small businesses including E-Tailers, IT Companies and any other business that stores customers information either online or offline.
A Cyber Insurance policy can usually be broken down into the following sections:
- Privacy Protection
- Breach Costs
- Cyber Business Interruption
- Cyber Liability
- Hacker Damage
- Cyber Extortion
Some policies can also incorporate the traditional covers such as Professional Indemnity & Public Liability.
Each section provides a specific type of cover and like a standard business insurance policy, you can pick and choose which sections you want cover for and the limits required.
It is very important to ensure that your online business is protected. There are now options available to help minimise a potential loss that in today’s fast pace, may unfortunately be only just around the corner.
