Cyber Liability Insurance

Cyber liability insurance may be required in your state. Regulatory frameworks like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) require organizations to have high standards of data privacy.

In addition, some professional organizations could require coverage before issuing you a work license or permit. And some clients may ask for proof of cyber liability or other business insurance before they’ll work with you.

1. Cyber liability insurance can help cover the costs of a data breach response. If a hacker gains access to your network and customer data is stolen or leaked, insurance could help pay for:

• IT and legal investigations
• Customer notification
• Credit monitoring or identity protection services

2. Cyber extortion/ransomware attacks. Data held hostage by bad actors demanding payment can mean interruption of your company’s computer systems, permanent loss of data or reputational damage to your brand.

If a security failure disrupts your business, you may qualify for lost income and expenses under your insurance policy.

If a hacker locks your systems or demands payment, NEXT could help with:

• Ransom payments (covered only with prior written consent and law-enforcement notification)
• Negotiation and investigation costs

3. Business interruption income. Cyber coverage could help replace lost income and pay extra expenses to keep your business running if a cyber attack or system failure shuts you down.

4. Legal defense costs, including settlements and some regulatory penalties.

5. Brand and reputation support. Coverage can help pay for reputation support if bad publicity directly results from a covered data breach or cyber incident (with our consent).

NEXT cyber insurance does not cover physical property damage, bodily injury or intentional criminal acts. It also does not cover known events or system failures that occurred before the policy period began.

Specific exclusions include:

• Intentional or criminal acts by you or your employees
• Bodily injury or property damage (but these could be covered under your general liability policy)
• Known incidents before the policy start date
• War or state-sponsored cyber operations
• Failure to maintain required security standards (for example, PCI DSS noncompliance)
• Dependent system failures (such as a vendor’s cloud outage)
• Patent infringement or trade secret theft
• Mass global outages or “widespread events” affecting many businesses simultaneously

The coverage you need depends on a number of factors, including:

• The type of work you do
• How many employees you have
• Your level of risk
• The state where you work

If you rely on technology and email communications, you could be at risk of a wide range of cyber threats.

Cyber liability insurance can also be called cyber insurance, cybersecurity insurance or cyber risk insurance.

At NEXT, you can add cyber liability insurance to your general liability insurance. It can also be added to your Business Owner’s Policy (BOP insurance), which combines general liability with commercial property insurance, often at a special price.

Cyber liability insurance could help cover the cost to restore your data if a hacker encrypts your business data and won’t unlock it until you pay a ransom.

A ransomware attack can mean a total interruption of your company’s computer system, permanent loss of data or reputational damage to your brand.

If a security failure such as a Denial of Service attack (DoS) disrupts your business, you may qualify for lost income and expenses under your insurance policy.

Yes, this type of coverage can cover the costs of a data breach or phishing incident if a hacker gains access to an employee’s email or creeps into your network.

This could include expenses such as:

• Legal fees
• Forensics and PR costs following a breach
• Researching and notifying customers
• Credit monitoring
• Regulatory penalties resulting from the breach
• Other miscellaneous incident response tasks

We specialize in small business insurance. NEXT focuses on the most common digital risks for your business.

Financial protection. Coverage can help cover costs to recover and defend your business from many cyber incidents.

Flexible coverage. You choose the right level of protection for your business with limits up to $250,000.

Instant coverage. Get a quote, buy your policy and get proof of insurance immediately.

Quick claim response. File a claim and your dedicated claims advocate will help you resolve it ASAP.

100% online. Manage all your policies via web or mobile app 24/7.

You can file a claim anytime online or in the NEXT app.

You’ll be asked to share the details of what happened and to provide relevant photos and documentation. We strive to make claims decisions as quickly as possible so that you can get back to work.

Learn how to file a claim.

Your general liability insurance with a cyber liability insurance add-on can typically be deducted from your business taxes. It’s important to consult with a licensed accounting professional to make sure you qualify.

The IRS categorizes payments you make for this type of insurance to be an “ordinary and necessary” business expense. Be sure to keep a file of how much you pay every year for your policy.

Learn how to write off the cost of business insurance.

It takes about 10 minutes to get a quote, buy coverage and get access to policy documents and your sharable certificate of insurance (COI).

You can access your documents and COI 24/7 online or in the NEXT app for iPhone or Android.