With the Super Bowl coming up, both the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos are undoubtedly meticulously preparing for the upcoming game. In 2015, we watched the Seattle Seahawks get defeated after they ignored the most obvious play they could have made to win the game. With only twenty-five seconds remaining and one yard left to go, the Seahawks choose to pass the ball instead of running the ball using their star running back. What happened next has been discussed and debated over the past year and will be for many years to come. New England Patriots’ Malcolm Butler intercepted the ball for the game-winning play.

Just like in sports, businesses sometimes don’t clearly think out their choices, missing the most obvious play. Today, the obvious, smart play for all businesses is to have cyber liability insurance and a plan to address a cyber-breach. Unfortunately, many companies ignore the reality that it’s not a matter of if but when it will happen.  Not taking action and ignoring this easy play could lead them to a big blunder, leaving their own customers wondering why the most obvious route wasn’t taken, just as Seahawks fans questioned why their team didn’t utilize one of their best assets.

The best way to protect your business from a cyber-breach is to confront the possibility head on that it could happen and take the simple steps of preparing, reaching out, educating andpurchasing.

Preparing: Maintain up-to-date systems and security tools. Implement an incident response plan and create a team of individuals responsible for responding in the event of a breach.

Reaching Out: Network with your Insurance Broker,  IT support firms and Legal Council BEFORE you experience a breach, so that you do not need to sort this out during the stressful time of one occurring.    Discuss their role and how they can be of assistants.

Educating: Train your employees on best practices to protect information and minimize the potential for a breach. Areas of concern include systems, email, internet use and travel with laptops and portable devices.

Purchasing: Purchasing the proper insurance coverage not only transfer some of your risk to the insurance company and provide capital during the course of a breach, but it also gains you access to valuable resources to companies such as IDT911 who provide complete identity and data breach defense services.

While the Seahawks can’t take back their decision to pass the ball, your company can still choose to take the proper initiative against cyber-breach. Our experts at L.D. Dermody Insurance Brokers can review your insurance policies, helping to protect your business, and keep you on a winning track season after season.
 
Thanks for reading.
 
The L.D. Dermody Team