Tech professionals are used to keeping up with the ever-changing tech and cyber world, but is their insurance coverage able to do the same? With change being constant in the tech world, it is essential that tech professionals have insurance policies to keep up and protect them against both traditional and emerging threats.
It is important for these individuals to carry errors and omissions, also known as professional liability, on a form that is made for technology professionals, as opposed to a more general miscellaneous coverage form. Coverages like network security liability and privacy liability can help meet more of their needs and address their specific exposures. Our broad definition of technology professional services has “including but not limited to” wording, allowing the insured to grow and expand the services being provided without having to worry if it is covered on their policy.
When looking for cyber insurance coverage, insureds and brokers must understand what coverages are needed and what coverages a quote is (or isn’t) offering. The term “cyber” is often used to encompass a very wide range of coverages, and insurance quotes can vary greatly between carriers, and even between classes of business.
Cyber extortion has been occurring more and more frequently over the past few years. The most common form of cyber extortion is ransomware, which is commonly deployed through phishing attempts and will lock up files, at which point cyber criminals will demand a ransom payment. Double extortion is becoming popular, which means not only do they deploy ransomware, but they also steal important information and threaten to publish it on the dark web if a payment is not received.
A cyber extortion insuring agreement could pay for costs associated with extortion, including forensics, the reward payment itself. USLI also offers a small sublimit for a technology professional to assist a client if they are a victim of ransomware.
Coverage for regulatory claims is extremely important in today’s rapidly changing legal landscape. Knowing and understanding each state’s data and privacy regulations can be overwhelming. A regulatory action insuring agreement that is triggered by both a data breach and a violation of a privacy law is able to handle the changes in legislation. It provides coverage for fines, penalties and claims expenses associated with an action or investigation brought by a regulatory agency.
These are just a few of the many cyber-related coverages available that address the ever-growing exposures of tech professionals. Keeping up with the technology and cyber climate is an important, ongoing task that a USLI policy can handle!
View our podcast page for upcoming content on USLI’s tech and cyber coverages, as well as other fundamental podcasts for our Professional Lines products.
