Free Checklist: "10 Things to Consider Before Purchasing Cyber Insurance"

PORTLAND, Ore., April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A company's most valuable asset is information, often referred to as "big data" that can include consumers' financial information, patient diagnoses, transaction records of online purchases or scientific data. In fact, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated every day, according to IBM. Threats—hacking, outsourcing, cloud resources, and mobile devices—are raising the legal, financial, reputational, and regulatory stakes for companies and organizations. To manage these threats, companies are turning to cyber insurance as part of their overall risk management strategy. But because cyber insurance policies are different than traditional insurance policies, ID Experts has created a free checklist to help guide companies with this important decision: 10 Things to Consider Before Purchasing Cyber Insurance, http://www2.idexpertscorp.com/resources/general-resources/tools1/10-things-to-consider-before-purchasing-cyber-insurance/

Click to Tweet: 10 Things to Consider Before Purchasing Cyber Insurance http://bit.ly/H6IywU via @IDExperts

"Along with robust privacy and security programs, cyber insurance can be an effective way to offset data breach risks," said Jeremy Henley, insurance solutions manager at ID Experts. "It makes good sense to first carefully evaluate data breach risks, identify vulnerabilities, and then shop wisely for a policy that meets the organization's needs."

Evaluating Cyber Insurance

Cyber insurance policies typically cover an organization's data that is stored both online and offline. These policies are designed to help offset expenses that may arise from a data breach event, including forensics investigations, notification letters and call centers, credit monitoring, legal fees, public relations activities, regulatory and legal fines and penalties, and liability.

However, there are often limits on coverage and choice. Some cyber policies may restrict the way an organization responds to a data breach. For example, in the event of a healthcare data breach, the policy may only cover credit monitoring services, when in fact a patient needs medical identity monitoring. Or coverage may not extend to a data breach caused by a third party, such as a cloud computing service provider, even though the primary organization is liable.

Before deciding on a particular policy, companies must carefully evaluate their options. ID Experts recommends companies:

• Understand their current insurance coverage
• Assess the risks for a data breach and potential exposure of sensitive data
• Take advantage of value-added services offered by an insurer
• Avoid common pitfalls with an insurance carrier

For a complete list of tips, visit 10 Things to Consider Before Purchasing Cyber Insurance.

About ID Experts

ID Experts is the leader in comprehensive data breach solutions that deliver the most positive outcomes. The company has managed hundreds of data breach incidents, protecting millions of affected individuals, for leading healthcare organizations, corporations, financial institutions, universities and government agencies. In healthcare, the company contributes to relevant legislation and rules including HITECH and is a corporate member of HIMSS. ID Experts' data breach preparedness and response services have been endorsed by the American Hospital Association. ID Experts is active with organizations that advocate for privacy for Americans including ANSI/Identity Theft Prevention, Identity Management Standards Panel and the International Association of Privacy Professionals. For more information, visit http://www2.idexpertscorp.com/; join in the All Things HITECH discussion via LinkedIn at bit.ly/AllThingsHITECH; and follow ID Experts on Twitter @IDExperts.

SOURCE ID Experts