Risk & Business Magazine McFarlan Rowlands Spring 2017 | Page 27

DATA BREACH
The stolen data included names, email
addresses, telephone numbers, dates of
birth, and password hashes.
By leaving your data accessible, your
reputation is also on the line in the
event of a data breach. If anything, it
is worth speaking to your insurance
broker about the options available to you.
Unfortunately, Standard Commercial
General Liability and Property policies
were written during pre-Internet times
and therefore do not address the unique
exposures now found in our cyber
society. Stand-alone cyber policies and
endorsements are readily available in
the marketplace to meet these new
challenges.
There is no standard form of cyber
insurance, however, coverage for both
first-party and third-party risks is
available. Here is a list of some of the
exposures that are currently being
addressed: claims related to expenses
incurred to mitigate negative publicity
as a result of a cyber attack, notification
expenses, liability for the transmission of
computer viruses, claims from copyright
infringement, libel, slander in electronic
content such as websites and e-mail,
reimbursement for costs to restore
data compromised or deleted during a
network attack, costs required to pay
experts to retrieve compromised data,
costs of negotiating and paying a ransom
demand, and loss of business income due
to an interruption caused by a cyber-
related incident. Claims also come from
areas other than cyberattacks such as loss
of data or employee error.
In a recent global study, human error
accounted for 48 percent of security
incidents. Most breaches caused by
attackers—75 percent—are of low
difficulty and can be prevented if
practitioners follow basic security
measures 2 . While no one is immune
to this growing epidemic, education,
preparation, and awareness are your best
lines of defence. When it comes to the
protection of your sensitive files, choose
to be proactive. Don’t let your practice
fall victim to a cybersecurity breach that
could have easily been avoided. +
1.
Canadian
Underwriter
2016
Cyber
Securrity
Article
www.
canadianunderwriter.ca/commercial-
lines/one-three-cyberattacks-past-year-
resulted-security-breach-canadian-
companies-new-accenture-sur vey-
finds-1004106464/
2. Verizon 2013 Data Breach Investigations
Report
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