The Expert Podcast

Wow, there is so much going on with cyber attacks on businesses, and now it's spreading to small businesses. Up until a year or so ago, you were less likely to have an attack on your business because there are millions of businesses and companies in the United States; the chances of you getting hit were small because it's just the luck of the odds. But now, the frauders, the cyber attackers, are using AI to just blast out thousands and thousands of cyber attacks every single day. So almost every business will be hit with a cyber attack, including small businesses, large businesses, and government agencies. We're seeing businesses get hit with cyber attacks, and they're ruthless attackers.

According to this article, cyber attacks are rising, including small businesses. It's a troubling trend because a breach can be costly and time-consuming. Why can't it be time-consuming? Well, if they lock up your computer and you can't get to your accounts receivable, you can't get your money from your clients. If they lock up your website, you can't get new business. If they lock up your payroll, you can't pay your employees, and sometimes that can shut you down for a period of time. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to undo this, and maybe a week or two, and that can really throw a business out of whack, not just counting the initial cost but also many times you lose employees because they just don't want to deal with the hassle. Many times, customers go to other vendors because they can't deal with you; they're going to go to your competitor. And the article says something very smart: small businesses should have a plan in place to prevent cyber attacks; that's the key.

Now, there's a couple of ways to do it. You can have your IT department have a plan for the cyber part of it, but you should also have a defense plan just like you have for fire or other types of catastrophes. You should have all the departments have a representative who knows what to do if this happens. Now, if you have a cyber insurance policy—again, we're self-interested; we sell cyber policies—most of these policies, the insurance company will give you active monitoring that monitors your network and also a response team. So if you have an attack, you pick up the phone and say, "Hey, I think we're getting hacked," and the insurance company will step in and do a lot of the work for you.

And it says that here too: if your business has been breached, it's best to work with a cybersecurity executive within your company. Well, do you have that or a trusted third party? Do you have that? Do you want to pay for that? Most cyber defense or cyber insurance policies have that included. Either way, you also need to know about reporting attacks. It must be reported to federal authorities within 72 hours if you're a certain type of company and you're pretty sure it happened. If you don't, you could also face fines and regulatory prosecutions, but your clients may be able to sue you if their information is released and you don't report it. So make sure you get good advice on preventing and dealing with a cyberattack. You can reach us on our website, riskcoverage.com, for more information or to schedule a consultation.