The biggest risk for business owners at present is the threat of a cyber attack. Whether it is yours, clients or employees information, there are increasing expectations that information is secure.
In March 2014, a new privacy regime began in Australia. The regime encompasses the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), amendments to the Privacy Act and guidelines on fines. There are fines of up to $1.7 million for agencies and companies and $340,000 for individuals for serious or repeated invasions of privacy (ie breaches of the APPs and the Privacy Act).
The list of regulations and statutes about using and protecting personal information, and the requirements for notification if breaches occur, continue to expand. Once a breach has been notified to clients or employees involved, regulators and lawyers are likely to come knocking.
Small to medium sized businesses can and have been affected by this breach in privacy, more commonly known as ‘cyber crime’. With the introduction of the New APPs, Accountancy Insurance’s Cyber Insurance is available to provide protection in the areas of data recovery and business interruption, multimedia liability, security and privacy liability, cyber extortion/ransom demands by hackers or disgruntled former employees.
Now is the time to start understanding your exposures and preparing yourself. A cyber policy covers breaches from various government bodies and considers the provisions of The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Protection) Act 2012 (Cth) and other federal, state, territory or local privacy legislation.
A number of Professional Risks policies are available to include $100,000 Cyber insurance. However, a separate Cyber Insurance policy can be obtained for limits of $250,000 and more. An example of those premiums is $250,000 – $1,000 and $1,000,000 – $1,500 lmits.
Did you know?
The average cost of a data breach in Australia in 2013 was $US1.96 million, according to a 2013 study by the independent Ponemon Institute for Symantec.
Of nine countries included in the survey only the USA, at $US3.03 million, exceeded Australia. Ponemon said lost business costs included abnormal losses and diminished goodwill.
Separate research conducted for McAfee found 45% of Australian small-to-medium businesses (25 to 250 employees) surveyed in April 2013 had experienced a targeted electronic within the prior 12 months. Of those, 21% had been attacked three or more times.
To discuss Cyber Insurance, please call the Accountancy Insurance Professional Risks team on 1300 552 867 or by email at [email protected].
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