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Cybersecurity advancements have revolutionized breach prevention, but what happens when these protective measures fail? The war against hacking is never-ending, with both sides trying to stay ahead of the other. Although the good side wins a lot of battles, cybercriminals are working just as tirelessly to outpace every new obstacle we throw their way. Even the best cybersecurity systems fail, and that leaves MSPs vulnerable to attack. Or does it?

With cyber liability insurance, MSPs can set up a safety net to protect their business in the aftermath of a cyberattack. Get the help necessary to get back on track

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Cyber Liability: Get Your Business Back on Track

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Imagine that your worst nightmare just happened: Hackers have breached your secure network and launched denial-of-service attacks followed by theft of files, accessing the company bank account and sending out phishing emails to your entire customer list. Your team of cybersecurity experts get right to work and recover everything, but by the time you’re back up and running, the business has sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into the recovery effort. At least the business is safe, right?

The bad news might not end when the breach is fixed. Between recouping the damages, redoing work and thanking the I.T. experts, small to medium-sized businesses lose an average of $25K to $50K per cyberattack. It’s more than just about the immediate damages to the company, but the long-term effects too. 60% of small businesses will fail in the half year following an attack. MSPs need financial protection to keep them afloat as they recuperate from the damages.

That’s where cyber liability insurance comes in. When you need to pay for lawyers, to check your credit, pay fines and generally recover from the attack, cyber insurance is there. It protects, not just your business, but also your customers’ privacy and peace of mind.

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De-Risking Your MSP

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Cyber liability insurance focuses on mitigating the aftermath of the attack. Not only are you recovering professional data, but you’re de-risking every customer in the company database too. Cyber insurance doesn’t only help restore you back to your previous bustling success; it can also send updates about the situation to clients for transparency, go toward restoring their information and privacy, and help with the expenses of recovering their stolen data.

Customer relationship management is crucial to regaining their trust after a breach. Loyalty is everything. If they lose faith in your ability to keep their identifying information locked tight, they will go elsewhere for their business. Honesty is crucial, because it’s always better to learn what you’re doing to fix the situation directly from the source.

There are a lot of domino effects that occur after a cyberattack, all of which contribute to the relatively high closure rates after a hack. Making sure your customers feel secure in your prevention and reaction responses goes a long way toward cultivating positive relationships they know they can rely on. Keep in mind: Many U.S. states mandate companies to reach out to customers if a breach compromises their information. Cyber insurance helps cover these necessary costs that will be coming out of pocket, anyway.

And yes, we mean when. Every technological development that makes MSPs safer incentivizes the dark side of the web to get creative, too. This is why the cyber war never ends. It’s better to assume the worst and be prepared in an emergency than find yourself in the middle of the recovery period without a life raft.

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Cyber Security and Insurance, Together

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The best cybersecurity considers every stage of an attack, including the long-term. Good prevention strategies minimize the damage you’ll need to recoup after an attack, and a strong tech team speeds up the process so the criminals have less time inside your system, therefore giving them a smaller window of opportunity to act. Prevention, reaction and recovery all work together to keep the business, and its clients, secure as possible when the worst occurs.

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Author Bio:

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Al Alper is Founder and CEO of Absolute Logic, Inc., an MSP based in Connecticut, and CyberGuard360, a channel-only company providing advanced cybersecurity platforms to MSPs, MSSPs, and IT Service Providers. He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded several successful companies. Absolute Logic and CyberGuard360 are his 5th and 6th ventures. Al is passionate about security and compliance. He can be found proselytizing about culture as a primary driver of security and compliance to international CEO's at NASDAQ, in the halls of Harvard Business School and MIT, and in myriad boardrooms around the count

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References

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• https://pchtechnologies.com/cost-of-cyber-attacks-vs-cost-of-cyber-security-in-2021/
• https://www.insureon.com/small-business-insurance/cyber-liability
• https://www.nationwide.com/lc/resources/small-business/articles/what-is-cyber-insurance

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