Cyber Insurance in Massachusetts
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Cyber Insurance in Massachusetts
What is cyber insurance?
Almost every business today has at least some online aspect, and that creates potential cyber risks. To help protect against many of the online risks that businesses face today, Massachusetts businesses can get cyber insurance.
Cyber insurance helps protect against modern online threats. Policies can help shield businesses against data breaches, online attacks and more.
Which Massachusetts businesses should be carrying cyber liability insurance?
Online threats and data breaches can be a risk regardless of business size or industry. Most businesses in Massachusetts should have a cyber policy to better shield themselves against these risks.
As an example of how pervasive the need for cyber policies is, consider the following scenarios where coverage might be needed:
- Investment advisors could sustain an attack in which sensitive client information is lost
- Attorneys could accidentally send opposing counsel documents that strengthen the other side’s position
- Medical providers could send electronic health records to an unauthorized person, violating HIPAA
- Gas stations could have scammers put card skimmers on their pumps’ credit card readers
- Businesses with remote workers could have data compromised if a device is left in a public place
In each of these scenarios, a business might be financially liable for harm that others sustain because of an online attack, data breach or other issue. Having cyber liability insurance in place could defray the costs that follow these sorts of situations.
What protections does cyber liability insurance provide?
Cyber liability insurance primarily protects against situations where a business could be held liable, or financially responsible, for a data breach or other covered event. As with most liability coverages, cyber liability is apt to pay legal defense costs, attorney costs and settlements when there’s a covered claim.
Exactly what claims are covered by a policy depends on the protections that are included within the policy. Some common ones are:
- Employee Privacy Liability Coverage: Normally protects against the exposure or compromise of employee personal information, such as their Social Security numbers or direct deposit details.
- Network Security Privacy Liability Coverage: Normally protects against breaches of data that lead to non-compliance violations of federal or state laws, such as HIPAA regulations.
- Electronic Media Coverage: Normally protects against claims of trademark infringement, plagiarism or defamation stemming from digitally disseminated content.
Does cyber liability insurance extend to third parties?
Sometimes businesses need cyber liability that extends to the actions of a third party. For example, a business may want coverage for the actions of a software vendor or cloud service that the business uses.
Coverage for third parties, including vendors and services, isn’t a standard feature of cyber liability. If this coverage is needed, though, an insurance agent specializing in cyber liability can likely help find a policy that does have the protection.
What sorts of claims are covered by cyber liability policies?
What claims are covered by a cyber liability policy depends on the terms of that particular policy. This is still a fairly new type of insurance, and there can be quite a variance in what different policies cover.
Nevertheless, there are some types of claims that many of these policies offer protection for. Some examples of what a policy may cover are:
- Employees stealing digital files or other data
- Online attacks causing a network security breach
- Human error that results in an accidental data breach
When a business has a covered claim, the insurance might help pay for credit monitoring, file restoration, revenue loss, and some other expenses.
To fully understand the coverages of a specific cyber liability policy, businesses should review any policy they’re considering with an insurance agent who knows cyber liability well.
Where can Massachusetts businesses get cyber insurance?
For help insuring against the modern digital threats that businesses face, contact the independent insurance agents at Platinum Insurance. We’ll work with you to identify coverage needs, and then show you cyber insurance policy options that meet your business’s needs well. Our Massachusetts agents can recommend the best available policies since we’re an independent agency.
