Cybersecurity Intrusions Now Daily Occurrence So You Need Cyber Insurance or Review Your Policy
Every day there are headlines about cybersecurity breaches, making it not only necessary but critical that your business have the proper cyber insurance coverage.
For instance, Symantec on Nov. 24, 2014 reported the discovery of a new malware named Regin, which has a main purpose of “intelligence gathering” and “has been implicated in data collection operations against government organizations, infrastructure operators, businesses, academics and private individuals.” In its report entitled “Regin: Top-tier espionage tool enables stealthy surveillance,” Symantec described the malware as a “back door-type Trojan … a complex piece of malware whose structure displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen” which has “been used in systematic spying campaigns against a range of international targets since at least 2008.” The report identifies the following Regin infections by sector:
- 48 percent privacy individuals and small businesses
- 28 percent telecoms backbones
- 9 percent hospitality
- 5 percent energy
- 5 percent airline
- 5 percent research
A September 2014 report from Ponemon Institute LLC entitled “Is Your Company Ready for a Big Data Breach?” showed a slight increase from 10 percent to 26 percent of companies with cyber insurance coverage between 2013 and 2014, and stated that most U.S. companies are deficient in “keeping the data breach response plan up-to-date, conducting risk assessments of areas vulnerable to a breach, continuous monitoring of information systems to detect unusual and anomalous traffic and investing in technologies that enable timely detections of a security breach.”
Gardere hosted a luncheon seminar on Nov. 4, 2014 entitled “Insulate Your Company from a Cyber Breach: Ethical Risks for General Counsel, Lawyers”. The seminar included these tough questions for business executives:
- Is our company at risk of a cyber-incident?
- What types of threats should we be concerned with?
- Should we explore cyber insurance and if so, how much coverage do we need?
Video from the Nov. 4 luncheon is available here. If you would like to know more about cyber insurance coverage issues, please contact Gardere Partner Peter S. Vogel ([email protected] or 214-999-4422).