A Western Kansas Agent’s Cyber Journey
Shawn Myers
Shares his
Professional
Evolution.
D
uring a routine visit from a marketing representative in 2009
I heard for the first time the words cyber liability insurance.
A brief explanation of this relatively new coverage followed.
Puzzled and intrigued, I asked a few follow-up questions and then
quickly put it to the back of my mind. As I returned back to work
that day, I wondered to myself how relevant this coverage was.
Consider that, at the time, the world had not heard of the breaches
at Target, Home Depot, Sony, or Equifax. Geographic location often
insulates people and communities into a false sense of security, so we
would often face objections when explaining this new coverage. But
with the increased use of technology for business, and connectivity
of the world as a result, this new policy type would soon be on the
top of everyone’s mind.
Fast forward to the winter of 2013, Target announced to the world
that credit card numbers and related information of more than
100 million customers had been compromised. The general public
was on notice, and “data breach” became a household term. The
highly public nature of this particular breach allowed for a talking
point with our clients. Still, clients were not ready to discuss cyber
liability insurance as a part of their Risk Management Program. As
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KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER | September - October 2017 |