Cyber insurance

Any business that works with electronic data could benefit from cyber insurance. Data you hold is at risk of being breached by a cyber-attack, meaning you’ll need to pay any fines or recovery costs that occur as a result.

These costs could be above what your business can afford, which is where cyber insurance offers that much needed financial support. Generally, cyber insurance is designed to protect your business from these primary risks through network security and privacy liability, network business interruption and more.

If you aren’t sure whether cyber insurance is right for your business, you can speak to one of our insurance experts. They’ll be able to assess your business needs and find the right policy for you.

As cyber insurance is tailored to your business, how much you might pay depends on a few factors, including:

• The level of cover you need
• The types of risk your business faces
• The size of your business (staff and turnover) and industry
• The number of data items you hold (including sensitivity of data)

Understanding the most common cyber crimes will help you recognise the risks your business faces. Some cyber-attacks, like phishing, could slip under the radar. That’s why it pays to be prepared:

Phishing

Phishing is where attackers attempt to trick people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware. It’s often done through emails to your employees, under the guise of a legitimate communication. According to the 2023 Government Cyber Security Survey, 79% of businesses have reported phishing attacks in the last year alone. This figure rises further for medium sized businesses (84%) and large businesses (93%).

Malware

More commonly known as a computer virus, malware is a programme or code that a hacker attempts to insert into your computer systems. It can be used to extract private information or extort the victim for money. Malware is often a by-product of phishing.

Denial of service

This attack aims to render a machine or network temporarily or permanently unavailable to the user. If a denial-of-service attack happens to your business, you may not be able to operate as usual, losing you time and money while you work to recover your systems.

Social engineering is a type of cyber crime that relies on human error and weakness to be successful. It involves manipulation tactics, typically used to get the target to download unsafe files or malware, reveal private information or visit dangerous websites.

Phishing is a part of social engineering, as is business email compromise. With the latter, scammers will either gain access to legitimate business email accounts or create new communication methods to impersonate employees and trusted vendors.

They’ll often use impersonation tactics to trick the recipient into revealing sensitive company data or giving them access to company systems. 31% of all businesses reported impersonation attacks in the 2023 survey, rising to 59-60% for medium to large businesses respectively.

We can find cover for businesses across a range of industries, including:

• Medical and dental
• Legal
• Education
• Accountancy
• Architecture
• Consulting
• Media and advertising
• Telecoms and technology