Cyber Liability

3 Cyber Insurance Lessons From the HBO Data Breach

Copyright 2017 Home Box Office, Inc. Winter is com…wait, nope, those are lawyers. Lawyers are coming. Fresh off the heels of the personally identifiable information (PII) of every registered voter in the United States being stolen, another American institution is on the defense. OK so maybe it’s not an “institution” per se. HBO was the target

Startup Risk Tips: Optimizing your Insurance Policies

Insurance should be seen as more of an investment than a cost, but given the busy and chaotic lives of Founders, it sometimes becomes a check-the-box activity.  When utilized properly, companies can get value from their policies well beyond that generated by a “set it and forget it” approach.  Here are a few tips to optimize your insurance policies

#Whatis: cyber insurance, crime insurance, & social engineering insurance

Most people have heard of cyber insurance. News of cyber breaches and fraud graces the headlines almost weekly these days. But are you really covered for all types of thefts committed using the latest technology? The answer is probably not, especially if you aren’t purchasing crime insurance. Let’s take a look at what you’re covered

Excess Insurance, Umbrella Policies and Why Your Business Needs Them

The Top 5 Business Insurance Requirements from Landlords, Clients, and Investors

We see all kinds of business insurance requirements (and coverage change requests) from our clients’ landlords, clients, investors, business partners, and more. These requests are processed by creating an “endorsement” on the policy that puts the change into effect. From a location change to adding a new coverage to a liability policy, some endorsements are

Why High-Growth Businesses Need Social Engineering Insurance

When we mention “cyber insurance” to most clients, they tend to immediately picture situations like the Target or Yahoo data breaches.  They picture some mystery mastermind on the dark web scheming up an elaborate plan to crack firewalls and compromise networks. While that clearly happens more than we’d all like, it’s not the only liability out there, and it

Pokemon Go, Harry Potter, & Augmented Reality Insurance Risks

  Are you one of the 30 million worldwide users who has downloaded Pokemon Go in the last few weeks? It’s likely, since the app has been downloaded more times in its short existence than Tinder has over the past four years. Regardless of whether you run around chasing Pokemon in your day-to-day, chances are

Getting Business Insurance for On-Demand Startups

Mary Meeker of KPCB Sounds the Cyber Security Alarm

With the release of her annual report this week, veteran internet analyst and Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker sounded the alarm on the state of cyber security. Meeker’s reports are essentially the bible to investors and entrepreneurs in the space.  The report contains valuable data on everything from mobile to emerging markets, but the slides on cyber security

The 2013 Target Data Breach: Insurance Coverage Recap

Retail Giant Target was hit with a massive data breach incident during the holiday season of 2013.  We posted a few articles outlining the severity of the breach and speculating on how cyber insurance may be their lifeline.  Here’s a quick follow up on the claims the company has seen since the incident. VentureBeat recently reported

Insurance for Fintech Companies

  Founder Shield 101: Insurance for Fintech Companies. From financial products to payments to investing, fintech is a red hot.  The market is forecasted to grow to $6-8 billion by 2018 and Q1 2014 alone saw 1.7 billion invested across 167 deals.

Insurance for Ecommerce Companies

Consumer Ecommerce is booming. With the vast array of web developers, payment processors and digital currencies, it has never been easier to get an online business off the ground. The US market alone is estimated at $409 billion for 2017. By 2022, it’s expected to make up to as much 17% of all retail sales nationwide. Risks

Inside Job: The 2014 Morgan Stanley Data Breach

While most of us are coming back rested and refreshed for the new year, Morgan Stanley can’t quite say the same as the bank’s 2014 ended with a massive data breach. Just two days after Christmas, information security employees at the bank discovered the data breach.  The bank was conducting a standard sweep of known criminal websites

3 Risks an On-Demand Services Company Needs to Consider

Update: We’ve released a new whitepaper examining the Sharing Economy industry. We dive into the insurance landscape, legal climate and how to approach risk management for companies in this sector. You can download the report here! Food for thought: on-demand services company risk profile The on-demand services company (think Uber, Makespace, Fly Cleaners…) is taking over the

Updated 2014 Data Breach Notification Costs by State

Data Breach Notification Costs Cyber liability costs are soaring these days for all kinds of businesses (startups included).  Most people think of these “costs” as those related directly to the data breach: legal defense fees, settlements with users and 3rd party vendors, and forensic costs. Loss attributed to data breach notification costs can go under the radar.

The “Dos” &”Don’ts” of Buying Startup Company Insurance

Buying startup company insurance can be a daunting task.  The insurance market is fragmented and there is no shortage of products out there.  The industry is not exactly tech savvy either, and many brokers still employ tools as archaic as fax machines in their practices.  Just finding where to start can be a hassle! When

Insurance for Internet of Things Companies

Insurance for Internet of Things Companies — what you need to know The Internet of Things space is exploding right now and shows no signs of slowing down.  In fact, some sources estimate that there will be 200 billion connected devices on the planet by 2020.  The current global market size is estimated at $4.9

How a Data Breach can Destroy Your Startup [Infographic]

  Our friends over at egress sent us this really great infographic that shows the current state of cybersecurity and data breach issues surrounding costs, incidence rates, and those most effected.  The numbers are based on data collect by the UK-based Department for Business Innovation & Skills, but in an ever-growing global economy, they certainly

Cyber 101: Data breach Notification Laws and Costs

**This is a guest post by Scott Smedresman of Sorin Rand.**

Startup CEOs & Cyber Security: Track your Tech!

Why startup CEOs should care about cyber security The data breach that Target suffered around Thanksgiving last year has finally worked its way up to the top of the organizational totem pole.  A couple of weeks ago, Target’s CEO Gregg Steinhafel lost his job a result of the cyber security shortcomings or liabilities that cost the company

Target’s Cyber and D&O Insurance Might Save Them Serious Cash

  We can’t resist talking about this Target Data breach incident.  It has become a major talking point in tech community and the news that keeps surfacing makes for a great little case study.  So in the latest bit of news to surface: