How to Buy Cyber Insurance for Your UK Business

How to buy cyber insurance for your UK business online

Cyber insurance is a type of insurance that covers cyber security losses and damage caused by cyberattacks, such as data breaches, ransomware, phishing, and fraud. Cyber insurance can help UK businesses recover from the financial and reputational impacts of cyber incidents, as well as provide legal and technical support.

One shocking example of how cyber insurance could have helped a UK business is the case of Kent Brushes, a royal hairbrush firm that had £1.6 million stolen in 20 minutes.

The company was ticked by a sophisticated APP (authorised push payment) fraud. The fraudsters tricked an employee into giving them access to the company account and transferred the money to various accounts in different countries. The company had no cyber insurance and had to rely on the banks to recover the funds, which is still on going and caused significant stress and disruption.

This illustrates how vulnerable UK businesses are to cyberattacks and how important it is to buy cyber insurance. Cyber insurance can provide peace of mind and protection for UK businesses in the digital age.

How Do You Know If Your UK Business Needs Cyber Insurance?

It’s quite simple, your business needs cyber insurance if you are a small or large UK business that relies on digital technology to operate, store data, or communicate with customers and suppliers.

Cyber insurance can protect you from the costs and consequences of cyberattacks, such as ransomware, data breaches, phishing, and fraud. Cyberattacks can cause serious damage to your business, such as:

• Loss of income: If your systems are down or inaccessible due to a cyberattack, you may lose revenue and customers
• Recovery expenses: You may need to pay for restoring or replacing your data, hardware, and software, as well as hiring experts to help you recover from a cyberattack
• Legal liabilities: You may face claims from third parties, such as customers, suppliers, or regulators, if their data or privacy is compromised by a cyberattack on your business
• Reputational harm: A cyberattack can damage your reputation and trust with your customers and stakeholders, which can affect your long-term success

Cyber insurance can help you cover these costs and provide you with support and guidance to prevent and respond to cyber incidents.

Cyber insurance is not a luxury, but a necessity for UK small businesses in the digital age. You are urged to take out a policy as soon as possible, because cyberattacks can happen at any time and without warning. Don’t wait until it’s too late to protect your business from cyber risks.

Contact Speedster IT Cyber Security experts to discuss your options.

Types of Cyber Insurance

• Hacksurance: Insurance against cyberattacks and hacking attacks
• Theft and fraud: Covers destruction or loss of the policyholder’s data as the result of a criminal or fraudulent cyber event, including theft and transfer of funds
• Forensic investigation: Covers the legal, technical, or forensic services necessary to assess whether a cyberattack has occurred
• Business interruption: Covers lost income and related costs where a policyholder is unable to conduct business due to a cyber event or data loss
• Extortion: Provides coverage for the costs associated with the investigation of threats to commit cyberattacks against the policyholder’s systems and for payments to extortionists who threaten to obtain and disclose sensitive information
• Reputation Insurance: Mitigates against reputation attacks and cyber defamation
• Computer data loss and restoration: Covers physical damage to computer-related assets, including the costs of retrieving and restoring data, hardware, software or other information destroyed or damaged as the result of a cyberattack

Key types of cyber insurance coverage in the UK

The key types of cyber insurance coverage in the UK are:

First-party coverage: This covers the direct losses and expenses that the insured business suffers because of a cyber incident, such as data restoration, business interruption, cyber extortion, and crisis management.

Third-party coverage: This covers the legal liabilities and defense costs that the insured business faces from claims by third parties, such as customers, suppliers, or regulators, whose data or privacy is affected by a cyber incident involving the insured business.

Cyber security services: This covers the access to or provision of cyber security support and solutions that the insured business can use to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber incidents, such as vulnerability assessments, threat monitoring, incident response teams, and legal advice.

Cyber incident response: This covers the assistance and guidance that the insured business receives from the insurer or its partners during or after a cyber incident, such as notifying affected parties, managing public relations, and restoring operations.

UK cyber insurance may or may not cover co-payment, coinsurance, depending on the policy terms and conditions. Please read all policies carefully.

Co-payment: This is a fixed amount that the insured business has to pay for each claim or incident, regardless of the total cost. For example, if the co-payment is £500 and the claim is £10,000, the insured business must pay £500, and the insurer pays £9,500.

Coinsurance: This is a percentage of the claim or incident cost that the insured business must share with the insurer, after deducting any co-payment. For example, if the coinsurance is 20% and the claim is £10,000, the insured business must pay £2,000 and the insurer pays £8,000.

Eligibility Requirements for UK Cyber Insurance

The eligibility requirements for UK cyber insurance may vary depending on the insurer, the policy, and the level of coverage. However, some of the common requirements are:

Risk assessment: UK businesses need to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of their cyber security posture, identify their assets, threats, vulnerabilities, and controls, and demonstrate how they manage and mitigate their cyber risks.

Security controls: UK businesses need to implement robust security controls to protect their data, systems, and networks from cyberattacks. These may include encryption, firewalls, antivirus, backup, multi-factor authentication, and endpoint detection and response.

Incident response plan: UK businesses need to have an incident response plan that outlines how they will respond to and recover from a cyber incident. The plan should include roles and responsibilities, communication channels, escalation procedures, and recovery actions.

System updates and patches: UK businesses need to keep their systems updated and patched with the latest security fixes and enhancements. This can help prevent cyberattacks that exploit known vulnerabilities in outdated software or hardware.

Employee training: UK businesses need to train their employees in cyber security awareness and best practices. This can help reduce human errors and prevent phishing and social engineering attacks that target employees.

Compliance: UK businesses need to comply with relevant regulations and standards that apply to their industry or sector. These may include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Network and Information Systems Regulations (NIS), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and the Cyber Essentials Scheme.

How the Modern Cybersecurity Environment Effects UK Cyber Insurance

The modern cybersecurity environment poses various challenges and threats to UK businesses and leaders, who need to protect their data, systems, and networks from cyberattacks.

Cyber insurance can help them recover from the impacts of cyber incidents, but it is not enough.

UK businesses and leaders also need to take proactive measures to prevent and mitigate cyber risk, such as:

A cybersecurity team: UK businesses and leaders need to have a dedicated and skilled cybersecurity team that can monitor, detect, and respond to cyber threats, as well as advise and train the staff on cyber security best practices.

A cybersecurity team can also help you comply with relevant regulations and standards. Helping UK businesses and leaders improve their cyber security posture and resilience, as well as reduce their cyber insurance premiums.

Cyber security is not only a matter of insurance, but also a matter of responsibility and reputation.

Did You Know Without MFA Your UK Business Won’t Get Coverage

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security measure that requires users to provide more than one piece of evidence to prove their identity, such as a password, a code, or a fingerprint. Without MFA, UK businesses may not qualify for cyber insurance or may face higher premiums and deductibles.

We recommend to our clients one of the products that UK businesses can use to implement MFA is WatchGuard AuthPoint.

WatchGuard AuthPoint MFA offers the following features and benefits:

Easy-to-use authentication: Users can authenticate with a simple app on their phone, using push notifications, QR codes, or one-time passwords.

Effective protection with unique mobile DNA: WatchGuard AuthPoint uses a mobile device DNA to match the authorised user’s phone when granting access to systems and applications. This prevents attackers from cloning or spoofing the user’s device.

Cloud-based and hassle-free management: WatchGuard AuthPoint can be fully managed in WatchGuard Cloud, which allows administrators to view reports and alerts, configure services, and manage tokens from one location.

Credentials management and password strengthening: WatchGuard AuthPoint can also monitor possible credentials exposure on the dark web and protect users from credentials theft and reuse.

Affordable and adaptable pricing: WatchGuard AuthPoint has a flexible pricing model that allows UK businesses to pay only for what they use and scale up or down as needed.

WatchGuard AuthPoint is a top-performing solution that delivers optimal user and admin experience for enabling MFA.

It is compatible with various applications and systems, such as email, VPN, cloud services, and single sign-on portals. It can also help UK businesses comply with relevant regulations and standards, such as GDPR, NIS, PCI DSS, and Cyber Essentials Scheme.

Therefore, UK businesses should not only know that without MFA they won’t get coverage, but also consider using WatchGuard AuthPoint as their MFA solution.

WatchGuard AuthPoint can provide them with peace of mind and protection in the modern cybersecurity environment.

Another factor that UK businesses should consider is the importance of using a WatchGuard gold Expert provider to manage their business security posture.

AuthPoint can integrate with Microsoft products using SAML or RADIUS protocols, depending on the application type and configuration. AuthPoint can provide UK businesses with the following advantages:

Enhanced security: AuthPoint can protect UK businesses from cyberattacks that exploit stolen or weak passwords, by requiring users to provide an additional factor of authentication, such as a push notification, a QR code, or a one-time password.

Improved user experience: AuthPoint can provide UK businesses with a simple and convenient way to authenticate users, using a mobile app on their phone. AuthPoint can also use mobile device DNA to prevent device cloning or spoofing.

Reduced costs and complexity: AuthPoint can provide UK businesses with a cloud-based and hassle-free MFA solution that does not require any hardware or software installation or maintenance. AuthPoint can also monitor possible credentials exposure on the dark web and strengthen passwords.

Therefore, UK businesses should not only know that without MFA they won’t get coverage, but also consider using a WatchGuard gold provider to help them implement and manage AuthPoint as their MFA solution. A WatchGuard gold provider like Speedster IT can provide you with the best security solutions and services in the industry.

Cyber insurance is a vital protection for UK businesses in the modern cybersecurity environment, but it is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

UK businesses need to understand their cyber risk profile, their cyber insurance needs, and their cyber insurance options. That is why UK businesses should consult Speedster IT before considering taking out cyber insurance policies.

Speedster IT is a WatchGuard gold provider that has the expertise and experience to help UK businesses with their cyber security and cyber insurance needs.

Speedster IT can help UK businesses:

Assess your business cyber risk: Speedster IT can conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of UK businesses’ cyber security posture, identify their assets, threats, vulnerabilities, and controls, and recommend the best security solutions and practices to manage and mitigate your business cyber risk.

Advise on the best UK cyber insurance policy for your Business: Speedster IT can help UK businesses compare and select the most suitable cyber insurance policy that covers your business specific needs and challenges, as well as meets your business budget and expectations.

Help Implement and manage your Cyber Security Solutions: Speedster IT can design and deploy customised security solutions for UK businesses, using the best-in-class WatchGuard portfolio, such as AuthPoint, the cloud-based MFA solution that works seamlessly with Microsoft products. Speedster IT can also provide 24/7 technical support, troubleshooting, and maintenance for UK businesses’ security solutions.

Save money on their cyber security costs: Speedster IT can offer UK businesses attractive discounts, rebates, and incentives on WatchGuard products and services, as well as flexible payment options and financing plans. Speedster IT can also help UK businesses reduce your cyber insurance premiums by improving your cyber security posture and resilience.

Therefore, UK businesses should not hesitate to contact Speedster IT – cyber security London consultants before considering taking out cyber insurance policies. They have over 20+ years’ experience in the field of IT security and cyber security.

Speedster IT can provide you with the best advice and assistance to make sure you are well prepared, save on costs and cover correctly.