Why Cyber Insurance Makes Sense In A Post-Covid World

For a time, when many people weren’t going out and shopping in-store as much at the height of the Covid-19 debacle, online sales were soaring and it was more important than ever to have a strong online presence as a business. That made cyber insurance especially attractive to many companies.

But what about now? What about cyber insurance in a post-Covid world? Why does it make good business sense to invest in a cyber policy in a “post-Covid era?”

Here are 5 reasons that every business should cover itself against cyber attacks and their many negative impacts still today.

1. Online Business Is Going To Stay Strong Post-Covid

Covid shook things up and induced changes that are likely to stay with us and not simply disappear after the “Covid era” ends. Many customers have gotten used to shopping and doing other things online more than they did previously – and that habit is likely to become permanent.

Many workers and children in school, as well as a host of other people and undertakings, are now more fully online and will probably remain at a higher online presence than pre-Covid for the foreseeable future.

This means that online targets will enlarge and entice more cyberattacks than ever before. It also means that the risk of not having cyber coverage is greater than it has ever been in the past.

2. Covid-19 Or Another Epidemic Could Come Again

Also, remember that Covid-19 is not entirely gone and that it could return. You want to be ready for that business-wise, regardless of the size of your business. And a different epidemic or health crisis could come along that would have similar impacts as Covid had on the economy and on people’s online habits.

It only makes sense to protect maximally your online sales, data, and sensitive customer information. You need to be able to recover quickly should, despite your best cybersecurity efforts, a cyberattack and/or data breach affect your business.

3. Online Threats Are Growing Ever More Threatening

Already, more than half of small businesses have experienced multiple significant data breaches at one point or another. This kind of cyber event puts customers’ (and employees’) personal information at risk.

Most states now require businesses to notify customers of data breaches – and this can be expensive (and can be covered by cyber insurance.) Also, customers will want to know you are providing free credit monitoring after a breach – this too can be covered by cyber insurance.

Cyber insurance can also help with restoring the identities of customers who have suffered from identity theft, recouping compromised data, repairing damaged computer systems, and paying cyber-related legal expenses.

4. General Liability Coverage Won’t Be Enough

Cyber insurance goes well beyond general liability coverage – in fact, it covers the gaps left by general liability and other business insurance types. Oftentimes, cyber or online costs are specifically excluded from many other insurance types and so need to be covered separately if at all.

Cyber coverage is fast becoming as important as standard business insurance policies like general liability, professional liability, commercial property insurance, or commercial auto. It is not required like disability insurance or workers compensation insurance normally are – but some of the expenses coverable by cyber insurance are required to be done by state governments.

5. The Costs Of Things Cyber Insurance Covers Are Unpredictable

A single data breach can easily cost a small business $50,000 or more to fully recover. That kind of expense can be very damaging to a business that may already have a tight budget.

The financial costs of online data breaches by professional hackers are very unpredictable. This doesn’t even begin to take into account the loss of upset customers and the cost and time it will take to win them back or rebuild a diminished customer base if some leave because of the data breach and related bad press.

But to minimize customer loss, you need to keep customers informed – as fully and as early as possible. And you need to be able to honestly reassure them that their credit is being monitored and your company will do everything to restore a stolen identity or similar issues potentially resulting from a breach.

To be able to afford this as a business without any way of knowing when the expense will strike or how much it will be – you really need to quell the risk and restore greater business predictability via cyber insurance.

To learn more about cyber insurance – what it is, how it works, and how it can work for you and your business, contact the cyber policy experts at Flagler Financial today for a free no-obligation consultation!