The COVID 19 pandemic has caused severe damage to the way business enterprises operate across Canada. Government regulations have made lockdowns, social distancing and self-isolation mandatory depending upon the extent of infection in the local population and availability of medical aid.
In Calgary, for example business enterprises had to ask their employees to work from home, even though many of them had neither the equipment, nor the experience of working from home. Secondly, a few of them who did venture to work from home required laptops or PCs to enable them remotely access their company's secured networks and other company resources.
In Calgary cyber liability insurance is more relevant now than before
This exercise of working from home is fraught with risks from cyber attacks. Why because employees face many issues such as hardware & software failure, loss or damage to laptops & mobile devices in the home environment, no other choice other than to use unsecured Wi-Fi networks, and falling prey to malicious websites that pretend to offer information on COVID 19.
Looking at the severity of these risks in Calgary, cyber liability insurance has now become more relevant than before.
What is cyber liability insurance and what does it cover?
In Calgary, cyber liability insurance provides protection & coverage of digital information and losses arising from data breaches. Coverage provided is of two main types, namely:
1st party coverage
- This includes expenses incurred by a business enterprise as a direct result of the breach, including expenses related to remediation and notification as well as crisis management.
- Expenses incurred due to business interruption and losses arising from dent to goodwill.
3rd party coverage
- This includes coverage for liability related to losses incurred by customers of business enterprises due to theft and use of their personal and financial data.
Value added services
Most insurers also offer value-added services to their clients. For example they offer to conduct network security testing at the premises of their clients. Such testing is done with an objective to help their clients obviate and mitigate the effects of a data breach, and crisis management services in the case of an event happening.
Calgary cyber liability insurance can either be in the form of a stand-alone policy, or in the form of an endorsement to an existing D&O or E&O liability policy. Typically speaking, each policy is different from the other and requires a thorough review before purchase.
Preventing cyber attacks – some do’s and don’ts for employers and employees
In addition to having cover under Calgary cyber liability insurance policy, experts have recommended some do’s and don’ts for employers as well as employees while they are working from home and they should take following steps to protect themselves and company information:
- Be wary of phishing emails that contain a malicious web link, that when clicked on, can download malware onto a laptop or a mobile device connected to the company's systems;
- Update the laptops, PCs and mobile devices of employee with anti-virus software;
- Ensure employees use secure, password-protected internet connections and reduce use of public Wi-Fi as much as possible;
- Curtail use of personal email for official communication;
- Encourage employees to minimize need to physically print copies of confidential information. Such information should be kept under supervision, and when not required, it should be shredded and disposed off as quickly as possible.
Conclusion:
Experts suggest that prevention is better than cure. This means that business enterprises must train their employees so that they become sensitized to cyber risks and can adopt preventive measures to protect themselves. For this, employees need to be trained on the use of preventive measures so that they can diligently protect and securing sensitive business data and client information.
Inspite of these measures, in case a cyber attack does take place, then it is essential to have Calgary cyber liability insurance in place to recover from losses and get the business up and running again.
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