We live in exciting times.  Technology has taken business by storm.  Everything is moving faster and more efficiently, and successful companies are embracing this and charging forward.  But it would be foolish to rush ahead without making sure your business is protected from cyber risk.

Picture this: You leave your work laptop on the seat of your car and it’s broken into.  It has a client’s personal financial information on it.  What do you do next?

Option #1: Curse.  Then decide to bury your head in the sand and hope that nothing comes of it.  The guy who stole it is probably just going to use your computer to download music and get on Facebook, right?

Option #2: Let your customer know their information was compromised and frantically call a lawyer in the hopes you can avoid being sued.

Option #3: Call your cyber liability insurance agent and let them clean up the mess.

The average expense of a data breach – including everyday ones like the one mentioned above – is $7.2 million.  46 states have laws requiring companies inform customers their information was compromised, and failure to comply (or stalling) can result in massive fines.

Good cyber liability coverage covers all costs associated from a breach – from IT forensics to figure out what happened, to legal support, to crisis public relations.  Yet cyber liability is a type of insurance that many business owners pass on.  They see it as an extra expense and think a data breach will never happen to them.  

But it can happen to anyone.  Just think of the major cyber liability cases that have been in the news over the past year.  Citibank had 360,000 of its customers' accounts hacked in May.  Several high-ranking Department of Defense officials had their Google accounts hacked.  Even Mark Zuckerberg’s personal fan page fell victim to cyber scheming last January.  Are you really willing to take the risk of skipping cyber liability coverage?  While the big bankers and internet moguls can afford a breach, cyber incidents can bankrupt small to mid-sized businesses.

Want to learn more on this topic? Read our [free] white paper on 5 questions you should take into account to uncover your cyber liability exposure.