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26
T H E P R I M E R U S P A R A D I G M
Cyber Liability Insurance:
Is Your Company Covered?
In 2014, over 29,000 records were lost or
stolen in the United States.
1
The average
cost to cover the expenses related to a
cyber breach was $5.85 million dollars.
2
Is your company prepared to handle
a cyber attack? Most businesses have
policies covering property damage,
business interruption and professional
liability. Cyber liability insurance should
be added to this list.
What is cyber liability
insurance?
Cyber liability insurance is designed
to cover the costs associated with an
electronic security breach. Whether
the breach is due to a criminal attack,
human error or a system glitch, cyber
liability insurance protects the costs
incurred when electronic data is
compromised. Data includes personally
identifiable information, such as an
individual's name associated with their
social security number, driver's license,
credit card number or debit card number.
Typically, cyber liability policies
provide first party and third party
coverage. Coverage ranges from policies
insuring business interruption from
a network being shut down, costs
related to cyber criminals who steal
personal identification information that
can be monetized, costs associated
with restoring business assets stored
electronically, costs of customer
notification, costs of providing credit
monitoring services to victims, and costs
of lawsuits relating to the data breach.
Why does your company need
cyber liability insurance?
The average total organizational cost
of a data breach is $5.85 million.
3
A
company that has a data breach faces
the costs of detection of the breach
(average cost $417,700); notification
to victims of the breach (average cost
$509,237); post-data breach costs such
as legal expenditures, identity protection
services, and regulatory interventions
(average cost $1,599,996); and lost
business costs, such as turnover of
customers and damage to reputation
(average cost $3,324,959).
4
While companies may look to their
general liability policy for coverage
in the event of a cyber attack, this is
probably a mistake, as explained below.
Will your commercial general
liability policy cover a cyber
attack?
Unfortunately, there is no definitive
answer to this question. It depends. In
light of the Insurance Services Office,
Inc., change to its standard insurance
forms, which excludes cyber breaches
from its commercial general liability
policy, it seems that a commercial
general liability policy is insufficient to
provide coverage for the costs involved
in a cyber breach.
5
The first issue to consider is the type
of property covered by a commercial
general liability policy. In claims
alleging lost or damaged electronic
data, software, computers or computer
systems, the key issue will be whether
the claim falls under the policy's
definition of "property damage." Most
commercial general liability policies only
North America ­ United States
Keren E. McElvy
focuses her practice on civil litigation in the
areas of insurance, cyber and data breach liability, labor and
employment, professional liability and medical malpractice,
and liquor liability.
Christian & Small LLP
1800 Financial Center
505 North 20th Street
Birmingham, Alabama 35203
Phone: 205.545.7456
Fax: 205.328.7234
kemcelvy@csattorneys.com
csattorneys.com
Keren E. McElvy