March 17, 2021

How Does Cyber Risk Impact My Business?

Most of our members tend to think about cyber liability in the traditional sense of “personal information of my customers and employees.” Because they don’t sell directly to the consumer, or have a limited number of employees, they don’t see any exposure.

Cyber risk has evolved well beyond this narrow definition of privacy liability. Some of the more common classifications are the following:

•  Social Engineering – this entails fraudulent financial funds transfer exposures, where someone from the outside convinces an employee of yours to transfer money to what appears to be an authorized account, but it’s not.

•  Ransomware – where a hacker gains access and infects your system, quite often without being detected and demanding payment to reverse the effects.

•  Network Business Interruption – where outside hackers shut your system(s) down and demand payment to let you start up again.

Access to your system can be gained directly, or commonly through a vendor’s system, who may not have taken the system security steps you have. With the recent popularity of remote work, the access points have multiplied.

Cyber Risk Management

Western Growers Insurance Services has created a solution to help you manage this risk. As with the other areas of exposure, we’ll help your team determine which cyber risks can be transferred to an insurance carrier and which are better managed by your team.

Cyber insurance is currently in a very dynamic state, and the policy you bought two years ago may no longer be the best option. There are new enhancements and exclusions, and our goal is to make your team understand how those impact your business. Not all cyber policies are created equal.

As we do with every aspect of our Product Recall Program, we walk you through risk management process. This includes understanding your security protocols, your system testing results and matching you up to the correct crisis management experts. It is crucial that this is completed ahead of any cyber event you may have—not during or after.

We know first-hand that several our members have experienced cyber events in the past year, which have financially impacted their business. We are here to help you manage this and all areas of risk. For more information, contact me at [email protected] or 949-885-2351.