With the ever-changing circumstances surrounding Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) many of us are now being forced to work or educate remotely. As a result, there are potential cyber liability exposures that we may be facing.
The SMJFL spoke to Eayl Machlis from SMJFL Preferred Partner Thunder Insurance about how the community can ensure protection against cyber liability.
Can you explain what cyber liability is and why it is important?
Cyber liability is the financial impact on a person or business due to your computer being hacked and data being accessed by those other than intended. Depending on the nature of the attack and the data being accessed, this can have quite large consequences.
Why is cyber liability insurance so important in the current climate?
As many businesses have adjusted to a ‘work from home’ environment due to COVID-19, more employees are now working on remote desktops and logging in to a server from home. Generally these methods have less encryption capabilities than a normal office environment, creating a greater risk of cyber attack. With cyber liability insurance, you have the added assistance of special incident teams who can access technical experts to respond to cyber incidents.
What are some of the most common mistakes you encounter regarding cyber insurance and how can these mistakes be avoided?
The highest cause of cyber liability incidents is a result of human error, with the average claim cost reaching over $500,000. These can be avoided by following some simple rules: 1. Set up multi factor authentication; 2. Check that your systems and applications are set up to update automatically; 3. Ensure that your employees are educated in identifying cyber security threats such as phishing scams and other forms of social engineering; 4. Adapt a strong password policy (include letters, numbers and symbols); 5. Ensure backups are undertaken automatically and on a daily basis; and 6. Ensure you can remotely lock and/or delete data on a lost or stolen device.
How can Thunder Insurance help businesses minimise their cyber liability risk?
Thunder Insurance can discuss cyber risk exposures with respective businesses, and provide appropriate solutions regarding Cyber Liability Insurance to minimise this risk.
How can people get started with Thunder Insurance?
Thunder Insurance can be contacted on enquires@thunderinsurance.com.au or you can contact me, Eayl Machlis direct at 0412 949 892.
