Cyber Security Insurance | ProfessionalsCoverage.ca

Why The Cybersecurity Professional Needs Proper Insurance

There is simply no denying that technology is completely changing everything. Computer technology to be specific. Just look at the impact of the Internet and what it is doing for Canadian businesses these days. Not only is it allowing businesses to communicate more effectively, but it is allowing businesses to operate more effectively than they have ever before. While this is no doubt great and all, it does pose several problems. The first are enhanced security risks. Any time you are on the Internet, you are at risk. Anyone on the Internet with more to lose is going to be at even bigger risks. Just imagine how much of a risk a business chock-full of valuable financial information is worth to a hacker. This is exactly where cybersecurity specialists come in handy.

Given the number of Canadian businesses today that use the Internet and computer to store financial data and information, it is probably easy to see why more and more people are going into the cybersecurity field. The only problem with this is that the field itself also poses specific risks. Risks that only certain IT insurance policies can protect against. What are these risks and how can they protect your cybersecurity business?

Errors And Omissions Insurance Policies

First up on the list is errors and omission insurance or sometimes referred to as professional liability coverage. This one is going to be pertinent, as it will protect both you and your employees. It will protect all parties from software that doesn’t meet your customer’s requirements, failure to deliver a solution on time, and coding errors in software programs. Just imagine you design a software program for a customer. And, there is an oversight in it. Maybe this oversight is just slight and doesn’t cause any problems at all. Maybe the oversight is huge and ends up costing the client millions of dollars in potential revenue. Maybe it causes a major breach that leads to information getting stolen.

Whatever the situation is, the client could sue you for any of these events. A lawsuit like this no matter how minor or regardless if you are at fault or not could result in thousands of dollars. Thousand of dollars that might eventually lead to the closing of your business. What’s even worse is that sometimes these cases get tied up in the court system, and the longer they stay in the system, the more money they end up costing you and your business. Luckily, these are all things that you can avoid when you have errors and omissions insurance policies in place.

This specific policy will not only pay to cover the customer’s financial losses, but it’ll pay to cover your court costs if the client wants to take it that far. As you can see, this is a policy that cannot be skipped, as it’ll protect both you and your employees from oversights and mistakes like this. Regardless of how careful or knowledgeable you are, there is always the potential for mistakes. This is exactly what this policy protects against.

Cyber Liability Insurance

Just because you are a cybersecurity specialist this doesn’t mean that your network isn’t at risk as well. Sure, you might be able to safeguard the network by taking special precautions, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a potential for a breach. Just about any network can be breached these days, and when they are they can have irreparable repercussions for specific companies. Companies like yours! Just imagine you have pertinent and valuable customer information installed on your device. Or, maybe you have a copy of the customer’s software that you are designing. What if someone gets a hold of this software and takes claim of it? Maybe they exploit it all over the Internet.

Once again, any of these situations could lead to a lawsuit. Whether a slight or a massive lawsuit, a lawsuit, in general, has the potential to ruin your business. Cyber liability insurance will protect you, your employees, and your business in these very instances. Cyber liability insurance can pay for the recovery for a data breach or cyberattack. It also has the potential to protect your business against lawsuits from affected clients, which is probably the most important protection of all.

Business Owner’s Policy

The business owner’s policy is a bit of a unique option and a confusing one to some. It is understandable as to why this one is confusing because it actually bundles two policies. It bundles general liability insurance with commercial property insurance. This means that in order to understand how this specific policy can protect you and your business, you’ll need to understand how general liability and commercial property insurance protects you. First up, take a look at general liability insurance. This is one that protects you when clients are injured at your office as well as accidental damages to the client’s property, and libel, defamation, or copyright lawsuits.

Just imagine, you are having a consultation with a customer and he or she trips in your parking lot and breaks an arm. Here is another potential for a lawsuit. This policy will cover the medical expenses as well as the potential lawsuit involved with this situation. As far as libel, defamation, and copyright suits go, there are plenty of times when a client can claim that you copied their software or that an advertisement hurt their business. In any of these situations, there is always the potential for a lawsuit.

Commercial property insurance pretty much protects you in the exact same way, but it also adds in stolen, damaged, or lost business property. If one of your computers or something outside is stolen from your business, this policy will pay to have it replaced. If you have a customer’s computer over and it gets stolen or damaged, this policy will pay to have the computer repaired or replaced.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Being that you are located in Canada, workers’ comp is a policy that is going to be required if you have employees. Even if you do not have employees, this is a policy that you wouldn’t want to skimp on. Why? Because it protects your employees and you from your employees. That might sound a bit confusing, but that’s exactly what the policy does. For instance, if your employee is injured on the job, this policy will pay for the medical-related expenses as well as rehab costs to get the employee back to work. More importantly, it’ll pay for any court-related costs associated with the event. Employees always have the potential to sue when they are injured on the job.

You might be wondering why an employee would want to sue if you are willing to cover their medical expenses. Well, workers’ comp can be tricky, as it sometimes only offers a certain amount of coverage. Not only this, but there are certain situations when it might not even cover the employee. If they test positive for drugs or alcohol, the policy might not payout. Even in these situations, the customer has the right to sue. And once again, regardless if the claim is founded or not your business will potentially spend thousands fighting it in the Canadian courts. All of these costs can be avoided with workers’ comp insurance.

Disability Insurance

You biggest asset in life is your earning ability. If you are unable to work, you will need to rely on either your savings or borrow money to sustain your lifestyle. When these unfortunate circumstances occur, dependents and spouses are also impacted financially and emotionally.

Disability insurance coverage will provide you a monthly income benefit, usually totaling 70% to 80% of your income, when you are unable to work for a period of time due to injury or illness.

Types of disability insurance:

How Much Do These Policies Cost?

As you can see, these policies are pertinent to any business. So, it no longer is what policies you need or how they can protect you. It now comes how much these policies will cost me. Unfortunately, this can be a bit of a tricky question as well because each provider is different. Providers like ProfessionalsCoverage might base their rates on the number of employees you have coupled with the type of clients that you currently serve. Some insurance providers might even base their rates on the amount of coverage you acquire coupled with the total amount of revenue that you bring in each quarter or year. This is why quotes for the same policies are different from various Canadian insurance providers.

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Other types of IT Businesses we insure:

If your specializing is not mentioned below, have no worries. Our insurance markets can provide liability coverage for the majority of information technology related businesses.