With data breaches and cyber threats becoming more frequent and common since the lockdown and the COVID pandemic, it is important that businesses look into cyber insurance, and the requirements to be eligible for a policy to protect their data and cybersecurity. Three Cherries as a leading Bristol IT support provider understand what these insurance providers need and are able to make sure your business is in line with these essentials. With cyber insurance still being a relatively new type of insurance, many businesses have questions on topics such as what cyber insurance covers or how cyber insurance works. Therefore, in this blog, we will cover some of these questions.

 

What is Cyber Insurance?

Cyber insurance is a form of cover that protects businesses financially against events such as data breaches or cyber-attacks. Although cyber insurance cannot stop these events from happening, it ensures that your business doesn’t struggle financially due to the huge costs associated with data breaches and cyber-attacks. Many insurance companies however will provide a list of requirements that a business must meet to ensure that they can be insured.

What are the Requirements for Cyber Insurance?

Most insurance companies will have the same requirements to be eligible for coverage. This is to ensure that your business has a high enough standard for cybersecurity. Three Cherries are able to make sure your business is in line with these policies and make the necessary changes to allow for your company to be suitable for a cyber insurance policy.

Regular Backups to a cold/offline location- One of the requirements for cyber insurance is regular backups to an offline location which would be unaffected by any issues that occurred in the live environment. This must be tested regularly to ensure that this is working correctly.

Usage of Multi-Factor Authentication- Another of the requirements for cyber insurance is ensuring that multi-factor authentication is used. This has become common within businesses now and will be familiar to many. Multi/Two-factor authentication should be a standard across all companies and at Three Cherries, we can roll this out for any device.

No Remote Access Without VPN- Attackers are scanning for any remote access services that are open without a VPN active looking for potential weaknesses. Therefore, a VPN must be used to ensure that these sessions are hidden from any malicious intent.

Regular Cyber Security Training- Regular cyber security training makes up the fourth requirement enabling a business to have cyber insurance coverage. This training must happen regularly (at least annually) to ensure that all staff are able to identify threats across multiple platforms such as email.

 

There are also another 3 areas in which your business should be making sure are covered. These are the following.

Regular System Updates- You should ensure that all devices are updated in a timely manner so that any patches are deployed across software/ operating systems. These patches typically include security updates which are important for your system.

Scan Incoming Emails- With email proving to be the most common form of communication, it is an area that is targeted by attackers looking to deploy malicious software/viruses. It is important that your system uses email scanning gateways/software to mitigate these risks.

Anti-Virus Software- Anti Virus is an essential tool in any business or personal computer. It ensures that malicious or harmful software is detected, blocked, and removed from your system. Without this, your business is at a great risk of attacks and data breaches.

 

Why Should Your Business be Cyber Insured?

Due to the rise in cyber threats and the massive costs associated with them, it is almost impossible to be 100% safe against these attacks. Therefore, it is important you have a plan if in the worst-case scenario, your business is subject to an attack, the financial aspect of the data breach is covered and gives you peace of mind.

 

Three Cherries: Your Cyber Insurance Assistant

Three Cherries as a leading Bristol IT support provider have experts who understand the conditions required for a business to be covered by cyber insurance and how to make sure companies fall in line with these requirements. Contact us today to find out more about how we can fit your business into the key criteria and get your business on track to cyber insurance.