COVID-19 1 Year Later: How COVID-19 Has Impacted Cybersecurity
One year ago today, we were presented with one of the most difficult challenges in our history. The coronavirus was spreading at an alarming rate and caused nationwide lockdowns on March 11th,2020. In honour of those we have lost, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau designates March 11 the national day of observance for Canadians who have succumbed to COVID-19.
In the past year, businesses and individuals alike have found ways to manage our day-to-day lives during a pandemic. Due to the necessity of safety protocols and social distancing, more people than ever are communicating online. Whether it’s working from home, participating in school classes, or simply sharing sensitive documents digitally, the cyber world has seen a huge upswing in use over the past year for people of all ages. This has opened up a new risk that many people were not prepared for, cyber-attacks.
People are more digitally connected and increasingly vulnerable to cyber-attacks online. Because of this, it’s important for businesses and individuals to consider cyber insurance to protect themselves in the face of burgeoning cybercrime. According to a survey from data and analytics company GlobalData, just over a third —34 percent —expect to return to the office full-time in the future, while 21 percent expect to be at home permanently, with the remaining 45 percent somewhere in between. This means our reliance on cloud-based technologies will continue in the future.
Cybercriminals have also been paying attention to these numbers as phishing scams — fraudulent emails intended to entice the victim to send money or open a link that installs malicious software on the victim’s computer — have been on the rise. Cybercriminals, through scam emails mimicking trusted sources like government and healthcare agencies, can cause real and long-lasting damage to anyone who opens them.
Ransomware — a variation of malware that allows hackers to lock people out of their business systems until they pay a ransom to an offshore bank account, is another growing issue that has serious repercussions. Luckily, cyber insurance can offer protection if you are being extorted financially online.
Cyber insurance can help cover a number of vital, potentially damaging issues, including:
- Regulatory defense expenses are civil fines incurred in responding to a regulatory proceeding resulting from a privacy or network security breach.
- Legal and civil damages: The cost of legal representation and possible damages related to a privacy or network security breach.
- Security breach remediation and notification expenses, which include the costs to notify affected parties and manage a privacy incident.
- Crisis management expenses: Public relations expenses to manage the damage to your organization’s reputation.
- Forensic investigations expenses: The costs of hiring a breach response firm.
- Computer program and electronic data restoration expenses: Expenses to restore or recover damaged or corrupted data caused by a breach, denial-of-service attack, or ransomware.
- E-commerce extortion and reward payments coverage: Pays for the cost of a professional negotiator and potential ransom payments to the person or organization extorting you or your organization.
- Business interruption and additional expenses: Income your business loses and the costs it incurs due to an interruption in services.
“Cyber coverage for both business and personal protection has become even more important as we continue to navigate our way through the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Commercial Vice President Dean Morrissey, BA, FCIP. “Working away from the office now is exposing both our businesses and our personal information to cyberattacks through the use of unsecured networks and WIFI.”
Cyber-attacks can cripple your business with the click of a mouse. An attack can not only be expensive to fix but it can lead to customer data breaches and ultimately damage your reputation.
Whether your company is a multinational organization, or you work from home, all businesses are susceptible to online attacks and can benefit from cyber insurance. We live in a time when many organizations do all of their activities electronically, and the majority of their assets are in the data they collect. This type of insurance is relatively new due and constantly evolving as businesses become more present online.
For more information about how to effectively protect yourself and your business, contact Merit Insurance Business Brokers at Tel: 1-800-563-3383 | Email: welcome@merit-insurance.com.
