Accidents happen. No matter how careful you are, an online security breach can happen to anyone. According to a report by the Ponemon Institute, only 24% of breaches resulted from human error and 25% from a system glitch. Malicious attacks were responsible for 51% of breaches in 2019.
Big Impact
Data breaches can be costly events. The United States has twice the global average in total cost for a data breach, reaching up to $8.9 million per event. Breaking down the results by industry, healthcare breaches are the costliest, averaging $6.45 million per event in 2019.
Long-Term Costs
The study found that it can take up to 200 days to figure out the cause of an attack. Internal breaches and errors are easier to pinpoint and solve. The longer a breach goes undetected, the more costly they tend to be for the company. The Ponemon Institute’s study found that one-third of the costs occurred one year after a data breach. Even after the breach is resolved, additional costs can be accrued later down the road. This is due to legal lawsuits and regulatory fines.
Getting Protection
The numbers can be frightening. Small and medium-sized businesses need to get serious about protecting their systems and information, and that plan should include cyber insurance. When dealing with sensitive information, it is important have appropriate insurance coverage in the event of a data breach or other cybercrime event. MiniCo Insurance Agency offers cyber insurance, which addresses a number of factors including breach response, business interruption loss, cyber extortion loss, data recovery costs, and more. Learn more about MiniCo’s cyber insurance program by clicking here.
The intent of this message is to heighten the awareness of this exposure. It is highly recommended that you schedule a meeting with your insurance agent to identify potential exposures, review implementation of preventive measures, and identify the appropriate cyber insurance coverage solutions for your organization.
