With cyber-attacks on the rise, businesses are now treating cyber insurance as less of a luxury and more of a necessity, with a larger number of customers being drawn into the markets and existing clients seeking higher coverage limits
The pandemic has drastically influenced cybersecurity and is spurring significant changes inside organizations. Due to government constraints, employees worldwide are working remotely, and businesses across every sector had no choice but to adapt to sustain.
The latest 2020 Business Threat Landscape report from security firm Bitdefender says 2020 has proven to be the worst year in cybersecurity history, despite multiple warnings, many enterprises are still not ready to protect themselves.
Recent data from Risk Based Security reveals that the number of records exposed increased to a staggering 36 billion in 2020, with 2,935 publicly reported breaches in the first three quarters and the three months of Q3, adding an additional 8.3 billion records to the “worst year on record.”
The remote working concept creates room for a variety of security issues. For instance, employees access work files on unprotected personal devices, which can be perilous. Conversely, workers operating remotely are more inclined to be using corporate tools for personal activities, including online shopping, net surfing, and monetary transactions, which is a significant menace to businesses, as it increases the surface space for threat leads to exploitation. Moreover, analysts witnessed faulty patch management of remote systems due to hasty configuration, abrupt demand surge, and increased danger from video conferencing.
Businesses have multiple cybersecurity offerings to select from to protect themselves from cybercriminals. Cyber insurance is one of the less known and arguably one of the underrated solutions in the market.
Only 11% of businesses had taken out a particular cyber insurance policy in 2019. However, the cyber insurance market is anticipated to grow by 33% yearly in the coming five years.
So here’s why businesses should consider investing in cyber insurance.
Cyber Insurance – A Vital Purchase
Every method of cybersecurity protection has its pros and cons, and cyber insurance is no exception. Businesses still have to cover some of their expenses. When companies are exposed to cyber-attacks, malicious code is usually installed within their systems. As a result, businesses may have to spend for baseline restoration prices as cyber policies typically cover only costs exceeding this baseline. Also, despite policies usually including PR expenses, the organization will yet suffer significant reputational loss in many situations. Current consumers or prospects may lose trust in the business, which will impact profits in the coming future.
While these are genuine arguments for the utility of alternative cybersecurity norms, cyber insurance must be considered an essential part of an integrated cybersecurity strategy. Though investing in cyber insurance will not eliminate the possibilities of a cyber-attack it is still important to remember that most cybersecurity devices are preventative steps. Companies need to consider what incident response plan they have in place in the case of a security breach. This is where cyber insurance becomes a viable and practical choice.
Final Thoughts
There must be a constructive shift in the system that CTOs perceive cybersecurity to ensure safety. The probability of a data breach is now higher, so CTOs should spend on preventative cybersecurity devices and have a plan in place to combat cyber-attacks. Instead of wasting time considering if cyber insurance is worth investing in or not, businesses should start pondering about what kind of policy will give them the best coverage.
