As absolute dependence on computers and computer stored information grows there are new ways companies can be sued by third parties for damages. When private information such as dates of birth, social security numbers, credit card numbers, etc are stolen off of your business' computer systems, it is called a data breach, and they are very costly to manage. The insurance industry has calculated this cost to be about $200 per individual whose information was taken. Also, if a malicious virus is distributed from your computer to a customer’s computer system and causes damage, you could be held responsible for cost to repair their system. Your basic general liability policies are not designed to pay for such claims so many times when businesses look to their business policies the coverage is not there to help with these expenses. Because of that, insurance companies have developed a new product called cyber liability. It is designed to step up and pay for the third party damages caused by your data breaches and damage by viruses to other’s computer system.So what kinds of business should be looking into this new cyber liability products? Any business with a computer, especially one that stores or interacts with any private information or distribute emails to others should look into this product. Restaurants and retail stores that take credit cards, professional business that store dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and social security numbers, even doctors’ offices are at risk for the types of claims mentioned above. Unfortunately, even if a business has the best firewalls and antivirus software, they still are at risk of data breaches and malicious viruses. Cyber liability is something designed to help protect your business assets if an unpreventable claim strikes.
