Your Guide to Cyber Insurance: Computer support for small businesses  

A data breach can be costly. Not just to your reputation but also monetarily. Cyber Insurance can mitigate the financial impact however, in order to obtain Cyber Insurance for your business, you must demonstrate that your cybersecurity policies and countermeasures are effective. This blog will detail the reasons why Cyber Insurance is imperative for small businesses and how Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) can be implemented. 

Why do I need Cyber insurance for my business and how does it work? 

In our increasingly remote-working and cloud-based world, the likelihood of a business facing an incident in cyberspace is almost inevitable. These breaches are getting more costly. The 2022 Cyberthreat Defense Report (hyperlink) detailed how successful cyber attacks affected 85.3% of organisations last year. Almost half of these organisations suffered at least six successful attacks in a 12 month period.  

It is important to consider why this is happening? Risk factors, linked to employees working remotely and digital assets being distributed via third parties / cloud-based solutions, are growing. 

According to IBM: remote working is increasing the risk of breaches and in turn this is steadily increasing the costs of data breaches to companies. More remote workers = increased monetary costs on a data breach. If a remote worker is the cause of the breach, the cost increases further.  

Don’t want to be faced with these costs? Cyber Insurance can assist with this. 

Cyber insurance varies greatly between policies. The wording of each policy further adds to the differences.  

Cyber insurance essentially works in similar ways to other forms of liability insurance.  It is used to mitigate the financial impact on your business. When you experience a ‘loss’, you can claim on the policy, which helps you to cover some of the costs. 

What is Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and why is it an essential requirement? 

The Endpoint is where the majority of breaches occur. This is why endpoint security is so important to Cyber insurance carriers. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a way of detecting and responding to events and security threats using a cybersecurity sensor at the endpoint. 

Protect yourself from having a Cyber insurance claim rejected  

Insurers are increasingly requiring companies to have EDR .  

Endpoint  – Where the breach occurs and how this is monitored 

Detection – The method (this could be AI) used to detect unusual behaviour and the flags use to detect a potential attack 

Response – The solution used to resolve the vulnerabilities that caused the breach and reduce the cost overall of containing it. 

It is important to be able to prove EDR is in place before requesting a policy as many insurers will want to see proof. EDR gives the insurance providers confidence that you are doing all you can to protect your endpoints and that you are not as much of a risk to them having to pay out compared with other companies who do not have EDR in place. 

Avoid the need to file a Cyber Insurance Claim 

Endpoint Detection Response (EDR) further reduces the risk of you needing to make a claim on your policy. If you have the right solutions in place, you are less likely to have a breach and therefore avoid the entire situation. This helps limit customers losing trust in your organisation/ brand, disruptions to your services among other benefits.  

“Reasons for rejecting an application for coverage include a lack of preventative security measures, poor security training and awareness and inadequate endpoint security. Claims get turned down if the carrier determines that the policyholder has let its countermeasures lapse—a “failure to maintain” situation.” 

Contact BeanIT for more information on how we can help you implement EDR. Ensure you are insured and covered appropriately for the measures you have in place.