New Hampshire Cyber Liability Insurance
What is Cyber Insurance?
Most businesses are exposed to various cyber risks they need protection from. Cyber insurance helps shield New Hampshire businesses from many of these risks.
Cyber insurance is a specialized commercial liability insurance and a relatively new form of coverage. Because of its newness and ever-changing risk factors, there's not yet a uniform set of protections that policies provide, so comparing different policy offerings with an insurance agent who understands this coverage is vital. The commercial agents at HPM Insurance work with their clients and insurance company partners to be familiar with a business's various cyber risks and how different policies protect (or don't) against those risks.
What Businesses in New Hampshire Need Cyber Liability Insurance?
Whether you run a small consulting firm out of your home or own a large manufacturing corporation, your business is at risk because of cyber liability. You can have anti-virus software, firewalls and even be diligent about changing passwords, but if the largest companies and governments continue to have data stolen, your company is at risk as well.
Most businesses in New Hampshire can benefit from getting cyber liability insurance, for the insurance’s protections generally help with multiple cyber risks. Without insurance in place, a single data breach or online attack could result in an expensive ordeal. Few businesses could cover the cost of restoring data, providing credit monitoring and repairing their reputation that a major incident may bring.
What Types Of Claims Involve Cyber Liability?
Unauthorized access: A Russian hacker electronically gains access to computerized cash registers at a restaurant and steals the credit card information of 5,000 customers, starting a chain of fraudulent purchases around the globe.
Theft of Digital Assets: A retail shop contracts with a 3rd party service provider. A laptop is stolen from a third-party service provider employee while attending a convention. The laptop contains the personal information of thousands of clients of the retailer. Under applicable state notification laws, the retailer, not the 3rd party service provider, is required to notify affected individuals, which will include the notification expense and crisis management to every customer.
Human Error: An administrative assistant at a large daycare electronically distributes a monthly newsletter to all clients. She inadvertently distributes a spreadsheet containing all the names, social security numbers, birth dates, and medical information of all the children who attended the school, thus resulting in a privacy breach.
Though we think about cyber liability as a hacker sitting in a dark room stealing data, it can be caused simply by human error. In this day and age of mobile technology, we have access to what we need to do our jobs from anywhere, but there is an increased cost/risk with this convenience.
What Costs Do Cyber Liability Policies Help Cover?
When a covered incident impacts a business, there are several costs that cyber liability policies might help pay for. Some of the more common expenses that may be covered include:
- Security Event Costs (i.e., regulatory fines, financial penalties, customer notification costs, and public relations expenses)
- Revenue Lost During a System's Downtime (i.e., lost sales due to stopped or slowed digital operations)
- Loss of Digital Assets (i.e., asset losses caused by either damage to a computer or corruption of its files)
In addition to these, some policies also include third-party coverage for the following:
- Network Security Privacy Liability (i.e., security breaches that violate HIPPA, federal, state, or foreign regulations)
- Employee Privacy Liability (i.e., privacy breaches of employees' personal information
- Electronic Media Liability (i.e., defamation, false advertising, plagiarism, or trademark infringement claims related to digitally published content)
Does General Liability Insurance Cover Online Defamation and False Advertising Suits?
With the amount of content published online, the risk of publishing something untrue is substantial. Most businesses would be wise to consider how well protected against any claims that might arise if they make a false statement on their website, on their social media platforms, or elsewhere online.
Businesses have traditionally obtained protection against defamation and false advertising lawsuits through general liability insurance, but many general liability policies have exclusions for statements that are published digitally. For this reason, businesses frequently need a cyber liability policy that helps cover statements made online.
How Can Businesses in New Hampshire Get Cyber Insurance?
To get help or a quote for NH cyber insurance contact HPM Insurance. Our agents can request quotes from innovative and established insurance companies who specialize in cyber risk while providing you with the information necessary to help protect your business in the digital world.
