The simple answer is “yes” but then I would say that, wouldn’t I? But there are hard facts that suggest that “yes” is the right answer.
The 2021 Gov.UK Cyber Security Survey shows that:
- 39% of ALL businesses and 26% of all charities in the UK have suffered at least one cyber-attack in 2021.
- 25% suffered attacks at least once a week.
- 20% lost money, data or other assets at an average cost per business of £8,460. £13,000+ for larger companies.
I don’t know about you but it takes me quite a lot of time and effort to make £8,460 and the thought of handing that over to a common criminal really offends me. As well as that loss of money there are also costs of improving cyber security – as the criminals get better at what they do, the cyber security industry has to up their game to match – diversion of staff resources and other disruptions that are not directly linked to making money from the core business and are therefore a burden.
If your computers suffer from fire, flood or other damage, they are probably covered by a physical property insurance policy – commercial combined, shop, office etc. – and will likely have a loss of profit (business interruption) element. Having your computer network taken over and held to ransom; losing customer records; having your bank accounts hacked and so on are not covered by a standard policy.
I believe that insurance is not an expense – although it is something that you can use to offset income tax – but an investment in your business, saving you time and money.
Cyber insurance covers a number of areas:
- Incident response: Paying the cost of responding to a cyber-incident in real time; dealing with IT security; forensic specialist support:
- Cyber Extortion: Responding to criminal threats to carry out a cyber-attack; expose or destroy data or to deal with ransomware – where you are denied access to your system until you pay a ransom.
- System Damage: Cyber-attacks can lead to your computers and servers suffering damage.
- Business Interruption: Covering the loss of profit incurred while your system is not working as it should.
- Network Security & Privacy Liability: This is where the costs become serious. There are substantial financial penalties for allowing personal data to get out.
- Reputational Loss: The knowledge that you have “allowed” client data to be lost can have a very adverse effect on your reputation as a business.
What does it cost? Well, in common with all insurances, no two cases are identical and the cost depends on your turnover, the number of records you have in your system and the counter-measures that you have in place. It costs nothing to ask for a quotation and you might be pleasantly surprised.
