You have probably heard of cyber breaches, data leaks, hackers and malware, and maybe even recall some of the most famous cases where large companies were brought down by such crime.
But now, unfortunately, we find ourselves in a world where every business, even smaller companies, in any industry, must protect itself from cybercrime.
The chances are that if you rely on an IT system at work, then you could be at risk.
At its worst: eBay Cyber Crime
Do you remember this case? In 2014, eBay reported a cyberattack that it said had exposed names, addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords of all of its 145 million users. This happened because sophisticated hackers got into the company network using the credentials of three employees, and had complete inside access of the systems for 229 days, during which time they were able to make their way to the user database. Similar attacks have happened to Apple, Sony and Yahoo (Read more about those here.) The damage to eBay was huge. It reported a decrease in user activity as customers lost faith in the site. It suffered a loss in profit. EBay were criticised for not responding to the attack soon enough. Cyber security experts say that this was the second biggest breach in history, with the biggest being Adobe in October 2013, when hackers accessed about 152 million user accounts.
Fortunately for eBay, this didn’t bring the whole ship down. EBay have managed to regain user trust and rebuild reputation following this cyber-attack, but this has taken a lot of time and money. This is a prime example of how cybercrime is one of the biggest threats that face businesses today. You may not be as big as eBay, but it has now become more prudent that any business that uses IT systems should put the relevant steps in place to safeguard their business. Can you afford not to?
Protecting your own business against Cyber Crime
Some suggestions for protecting your business include:
- Keeping your operating systems up to date
- Investing in a firewall
- Keeping all system software updated
- Encrypting your wireless network
- Making sure that nothing can be installed on computers without authorization
- Blocking access to restricted websites
- Removing USB ports so that malicious data can’t be downloaded
- Implementing strict password policies for all staff, and stopping staff from re-using passwords
- Investing in Cyber Liability Insurance
Cyber Liability Insurance
Cyber Liability Insurance gives your business a level of protection, which is designed to support your company if it experiences a data breach or cyber hack. It provides comprehensive cover in the event of a claim as well as ultimate peace of mind.
Cyber liability insurance covers various aspects of a breach, including financial losses that result from cyber-attacks, such as loss of income if your business had to cease trading while you addressed the problem. Other costs might include crisis management costs, incident report costs, crisis communication costs and IT security costs. Cyber crime can have a large knock on effect and the impact on a business can be huge.
With the right policy in place, you can also be reassured that legal expenses, as well as paying ransoms, would be covered. It can also include a dedicated 24/7 advice service that you can turn to at the first sight of a cyber-attack. It pays to protect yourself now, because even a small breach of data can be detrimental to a business.
Hamilton Robertson have many years’ experience in offering a range of business insurances and can create a bespoke level of cover for your Cyber Liability Insurance, giving you ultimate peace of mind. The policies are created for your unique business, and as such, you won’t find a ‘one size fits all’ approach. We are also proud to offer competitive prices, which is why many of our loyal clients come back to us time and time again.