19% have Cyber Insurance, 50% expect more attacks

Most companies don’t have cyber/data breach insurance.  And most think attacks are getting worse (and they’re right).  But even large companies are 4 times more likely to use insurance to protect loss of physical assets than loss of data.

These figures come from a current Ponemon Institute study quoted by the national Professional Insurance Agents. (PIA)  There’s a link to the study at the bottom of this post.

What do we have to do to convince businesses to protect themselves?

I think, as President of the New Jersey Professional Insurance Agents in addition to GBW Insurance, that most agents are including information about Cyber issues in their talks with clients.  But the level of misinformation and ignorance at the client end is still very high.

Smaller businesses tend to assume 1) that they are not exposed, and 2) that there is adequate coverage in their basic insurance policies.  #1 is a bad joke; small businesses are great targets for hackers and even better for disgruntled employees.  And #2 is a fantasy.

I’m going to go write another letter to all our business clients…

Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) link to the study

The Ponemon Institute study has many other entertaining facts. For example, large  publicly held companies said they would have to disclose large lawsuits or large-scale damage to physical assets, but not cyber penetration.  I’d like to hear a business litigation attorney on that one.