Recent events show that everyone is vulnerable to cyber attacks
On March 13, 2017, the Government of Canada was forced to shut down two of its websites due to a security threat. The software that is used to run the websites for the Canada Revenue Agency and Statistics Canada was breached by hackers who exploited a bug in the system’s security. The government was quick to react to the breach and shut both websites down, so they are confident that no confidential information was obtained during this cyber attack. Many Canadians now use the CRA’s website to file their annual income tax returns, so a breach in security could be devastating if hackers were allowed time to access the right information.
No one is immune
Although the attack was contained and updates were added to bolster the security of these sites, many Canadians are still concerned – and rightly so. This event shows once again how vulnerable our information is to the threat of cyber attacks. If the Government of Canada isn’t immune, than neither are you! This should remind us all that cyber security isn’t a given, so we can’t take it for granted.
Of course, it’s not like we can all go back to simpler times when we didn’t rely on computers. We need them to communicate, to work, to organize our lives, to do our banking, and even to file our taxes! Just like banks are a convenient way for use to store and access our money, computers are an excellent way for us to store and access our information. Cyber security means using technology safely, not avoiding it completely.
Mitigate the risk with insurance
The reality is that no matter how good the security of your software or network is, the risk will never go away completely. Whether your own a small business or a large corporation, chances are that you are using computers to store or manage data that is critical to the operation of your business. If that data were to be stolen or corrupted in any way, your business could be in jeopardy. That’s where cyber risk insurance comes in. With cyber risk insurance, you’ll have coverage if a security breach does occur.
At Cooke Insurance, we offer comprehensive cyber risk insurance policies that will protect your business. Features of this policy include:
- Incident response expenses: covers the cost of notify all affected parties of a breach.
- Business interruption: coverage for lost income when digital assets are lost or disabled.
- E-Commerce extortion expense: coverage for payment demanded by hackers when they threaten to go a step further.
Besides these features, we also offer third party coverage with our cyber risk policies. This option helps provide coverage for liabilities that could arise due to your digital interaction with third parties.
