We have insurance to protect our most valuable and cherished assets and possessions. We insure our homes, our businesses, our cars, our pets, our valuables and our lives.

And if your business is one that’s heavily digitised, protecting your online data should be of top priority, too.

Sadly, cyber-attacks on businesses have become far too frequent. And although you may have an excellent team of cyber security professionals, working around the clock to monitor and respond to threats, there’s no guarantee that a particularly potent cyber-attack won’t slip through the cracks.

Thankfully, this is where cyber insurance enters the picture. Today, the team at Real Innovation Group discuss everything you need to know about cyber insurance, why it’s so important, and why Real Innovation Group are your team of choice for comprehensive cyber insurance.

The basics of cyber insurance

Cyber insurance is no different to car or home insurance. You insure your car so that, in the event of an accident, the repair bills don’t come out of your pocket. You insure your home so that, if a fire occurs, your insurance company will pay for the damage.

Cyber insurance is a service that not only helps financially protect you from the economic blow of cyber-attack, but also assists in the recovery of data, mitigation of cyber extortion and more. Just like home and car insurance, you pay a fee to a provider which covers you if attacks like these should occur.

What are the benefits of cyber insurance?

Cyber insurance has several benefits, for a range of different customers. The main reasons why Australians invest in cyber insurance include:

• Protection from data loss
  Data theft is always a concern for businesses that store data. Your business is most likely liable in the event of personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) is exposed.
  If a breach of these types of information does occur, cyber insurance is there to cover breach notifications, defence expenses and remediation expenses. This can save enormous amounts of money – keep reading to see an example below of the kind of sums we’re talking about.
• Protection from lost devices
  As Australians turn more to working from home, it’s not uncommon for personal devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones to contain sensitive information pertaining to companies. Should a device be stolen from an employee’s home, this poses the risk of data exposure.One benefit of cyber insurance is that a good policy may include Network and Information Security Liability, which covers failure to prevent unauthorised access to, or use of, data containing private or confidential information of others.
• Coverage of notification requirements
  When an information breach does occur, your business is required to notify each affected individual. This can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending of the scale of the breach.Cyber insurance can also be used to cover these costs in the event of a data breach.
• Computer forensics teams
  Another benefit of cyber insurance is that it may cover part of the cost of a computer forensics team, which is necessary for assessing the scale of a data breach.

Who can benefit from cyber insurance?

Any business that stores and manages data online can benefit from cyber insurance. This means that securing a cyber insurance policy is beneficial to a huge range of industries, from retail, to services, to e-commerce and more.

The Sony PlayStation Network breach in 2011

Possibly the most famous case of a company that could have seriously benefited from a cyber insurance policy is the hacking of the Sony PlayStation Network back in 2011. 77 million users had their personally identifiable information hacked, causing a network outage for 23 days, and incurring over 171mil USD in costs associated with the breach.

These costs came exclusively out of Sony’s pocket, since they didn’t have a cyber security insurance policy at the time. Had they had one, a significant portion of those costs would have been covered by it.

Could you imagine the stress and heartache of incurring such a loss to your business? Not having a cyber insurance policy is simply not worth the risk, especially when there are affordable and flexible options available through Real Innovation Group.

Does my business insurance cover cyber security already?

Most business insurance policies only cover a small portion of cyber security occurrences, if any at all. Check your current insurance policy and, if there are any gaps, get in touch with the team at Real Innovation Group to obtain a policy.

Real Innovation Group are Australia’s experts in managed services, cyber security and cyber insurance, too. A team committed to flexibility and openness, Real Innovation Group are driven to provide you with the best cyber insurance policy for your organisation. Talk to the team about securing a great policy today.