What you should know about cyber risk – Part 2

Last week, we talked about some of the risks associated with running a business that depends on data. These are things every business person should know, from the most common causes of a data breach, to the costs of such an event.

And now you’re wondering: How do I protect myself from cyber risks?

First and foremost, get yourself a good insurance policy. A quality cyber liability insurance policy will cover the costs associated with:

• A public relations, marketing, or communication strategy to help rebuild your business
• Your legal defense, should you need it (and you might)
• Judgments and liability in the event a third party sues you for the data breach
• Credit monitoring services for affected clients and tenants
• Business interruption damages
• Assessing the breach with computer forensics
• Punitive damages (check to see if your state allows you to purchase protection against this)

It’s always reassuring to have an insurance policy to back you up (after all, that’s why we have health, home, and auto insurance, right?), but the hope is that you never actually have to use it. The good news is, there are a few things you can do to stop hackers before they get to you.

Multi-family executives can protect their organizations by adhering to the following standards:

• Keep anti-virus software up-to-date, and run regular network scans. You can even schedule them to run automatically.
• Download the latest operating systems to your computers, regardless of if you use a Mac or a PC. Updates to computer software usually include patches to any security issues. Remember, these issues are being uncovered every day.
• Perform a vulnerability assessment on a regular basis. If you don’t have an IT staff, this may involve hiring an outside contractor, but it will keep you (and your tenants, staff, and vendors) safer overall.
• Train all of your employees on data security, include information on handling PII, HIPAA requirements, data security measures, and the like.

Of course, even the most secure and careful of companies face a data breach. But, doing your due-diligence before a hacker strikes may save you from a heap of liability and legal costs when it’s all over.

Have you had to deal with a data breach? How did you recover? Leave us a comment below.