Protect Your Customer's Privacy
Every day seems to bring another report of cyber-intrusion. Most of the stories are high profile cases involving large companies and millions of individual's information. What is usually never reported on are the thousands of small business' that are victims of cyber-attacks each year, attacks which can have devastating effects on a business' bottom line. Whether it's the payment of a cyber-extortion scheme, i.e. "Pay us or we'll crash your systems" or the hours spent focusing on the attack rather than on your business, there will be significant costs to a small business, costs which sometimes may lead to the demise of the business itself . There are two important ways to address the issues of Cyber-intrusion; pro-active steps to avoid system attacks and mitigate exposure, and obtaining insurance coverage to indemnify a small business owner in the event of a Cyber episode.
In Oregon, we now have an excellent resource to help prevent Cyber-intrusion. Recently, I received information about an initiative to help small business and individuals protect themselves, and their customer's, The web site states that: "As a collaboration of public and private sector organizations, the Cyber Oregon initiative is intended to do just that. Whether you’re with a small business, a non-profit or government organization, here’s where you will find the critical cybersecurity resources as well as education and training programs you need to stay safe online....". This resource can be found at: https://cyberoregon.com/.
Could your business survive a Cyber-attack? At the low end of the scale this could mean a payment of $5-$10,000 to a Cyber-extortionist to not take down your system or sell your customer's information. Another likely scenario would require your business to pay $50-$75 a year for credit monitoring, for the next 2-3 years, for every single one of your customers. If you have a thousand customers, this could mean an outlay of $75-$100,000 for the next few years. Could your business survive that? An affordable solution is to obtain insurance to indemnify your business for the costs certain to come from a Cyber-attack. Ask your Insurance Agent, or give me a call at Premier Insurance Group, for more information about Cyber Insurance coverage.
Cyber-theft and intrusion events are becoming more and more common every year and is a problem that is not going away. You have two choices to address this growing epidemic; stick your head in the sand and pray it never happens to you, or be pro-active in mitigating the risks of a Cyber attack before it happens and put insurance protection in place to help protect your bottom-line from the financial burdens your business will face from a Cyber attack.