When it comes to business these days, little is done without the use of personal data, the internet and passwords. So business as usual becomes exposure as usual. Even the slightest oversight in security gives virtual criminals the advantage. Consider that virtual break-ins still happen no matter how well you think you are protected.
As hackers have found it easier to hack into small businesses over large, you may not realize what a gold mine you are sitting on with your local, mom-and-pop shop. This makes it more important than ever to constantly keep up with security of our own systems. And every year, the cost of a data breach rises.
On average, the minimum cost per compromised record is $80 and the maximum can reach well over $246 – $355, according to a research study sponsored by IBM. Calculate that with the number of customers in your database. Scary, right?! The cost is easily enough to put a well-established company out of business. What’s even more scary is that it can be over a year before you realize you’ve been hacked. The IBM-sponsored study also found that companies don’t discover the data breaches for an average of 16 months.
Last year, Fortune Magazine covered the heavy costs that IBM’s study found. Data breaches cost companies an average “$4 million per incident” which was up from the $3.79 million the prior year. Insurance companies have realized the serious effects of these data breaches and that’s why they created Cyber Security Insurance.
If you have any questions regarding how Cyber Security Insurance works, please feel free to contact our agent Jim who specializes in Commercial Policies. If you would like to learn more about the statistics of data breaches, you can read more from Fortune Magazine.