It’s not “if” but “when” – Are you equipped to deal with a cyber attack?

“No business can ever be completely safe” is the warning from all leading law enforcement agencies around the World. Cyber attacks continue to be the fastest increasing crime against businesses and the cost of the professional help you’ll need to sort it is eye watering with the average value of insured cyber claims in the UK being well over £100,000.

As a Director or senior official within a business, the Companies Act places a legal duty on you to fully assess the cyber threat in your business and take appropriate action and we have seen a sharp increase in the number of claims successfully brought against Directors and Officers in their own personal capacity for failure to do this.

 

So, what can you do?

This really falls into 2 categories, risks assessment and mitigation followed by risk transfer to an appropriate cyber policy.

The first category requires you to formally assess the cyber threat to your business and decide if the mitigations and controls, such as patching, staff training, penetration testing etc are adequate.

The second category is the natural step for those risks you’ve identified that are just too big for your business to take the financial burden of, and you’d typically buy a cyber insurance policy to provide protection.

 

 What does a cyber insurance policy provide:

• The first element is a “response service” from legal, accountancy and IT experts. They will guide you through the steps required to correct the issue, fulfil your regulatory duties, support your customers and protect your brand.

• The second element is to cover the costs of all that work and any compensation you may need to provide your customers.
   

How are enforcement businesses exposed?

Like most businesses, enforcement businesses are heavily reliant on IT and can hold some pretty sensitive financial and bank account data. Imagine how your business would be affected if you were unable to access any of your IT systems for a couple of weeks or the damage to your reputation if sensitive financial data was stolen or leaked – most businesses would be in real trouble.

 

For more information on how to protect your business please contact: