Cyber Liability Insurance policies for independent schools

by | Oct 21, 2021 | Education News, The Advocate, WFIS News

What is Cyber Liability Insurance?
Cyber liability insurance is a policy that offers coverage to help protect the company from immense financial losses arising from data breaches, viruses, hacking, denial of service, cyber extortion, and other cyber incidents. These typically include legal fees stemming from civil suits, regulatory fines and penalties, and mandatory forensic examinations.

A cyber liability policy protects your organization beyond the basics of general liability insurance, which does not protect against cyber attacks and data breaches.  70% of cyber attacks target small businesses, and the cost of data recovery alone could force an organization to fold.  The most common potential threats to your school are:

• A breach of your social media account
• The leaking of confidential student or staff information
• Compromised data security due to employee errors
• Identity theft, computer virus, or phishing scams
 

These attacks can devastate a small business, and if they gain access to sensitive personal information (Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, home addresses, etc.) can wreak havoc on individuals’ lives.

Why is It Important?
Schools that maintain and store any type of data online – such as personally identifiable information, credit card numbers, and contact information — need to consider a cyber liability insurance policy because it offers an additional layer of protection of confidential employee information and important customer details in the event of a data breach.

What Does and Doesn’t Cyber Liability Insurance Cover?
A cyber liability policy should protect your business from claims and expenses that include loss of income, related expenses, and damage to your company’s reputation which result from a data breach, hack or cyber attack. 

 

Cyber liability insurance coverage generally includes:

• Coverage of all devices that could be stolen or lost (mobile phones, laptops, tablets)
• Protection if you’re a victim of hacking and viruses
• Liability for slanderous blog content
• Data corruption and/or theft
• Crisis management (public relations assistance, brand-rebuilding efforts)
 

Many cyber security policies do not cover:

• Preventable security issues, such as poor configuration management or mishandling digital assets.
• Incidents that occurred before the policy went into effect.
• Acts initiated and caused by the insured.
• Infrastructure failures not caused by a purposeful cyber attack.
• Costs incurred to improve cyber security after an attack or breach has already happened.
• Loss of or damage to property (e.g., physical assets covered by property insurance).
• Other expenses beyond the coverage limits of the policy.
 

WFIS and Bell Anderson
Jim Hunt, President of Bell Anderson Insurance has suggested WFIS address the topic of cyber security with schools as the increase of incidences in the last two years is of great concern.  In November, WFIS & Bell Anderson will provide an opportunity for our Members Schools to connect with experts at Protos Technologies  to answer questions about risks they see happening for independent and non-public schools.  

 NPIP has provided WFIS with these great resources that can help your school increase awareness and tighten security in today’s ever-expanding cyber environments.