Cyber Liability Terms Decoded For You

How to Understand Cyber Liability Terms: The cyber-world is a complicated place to navigate today. You can remove some uncertainty by getting Cyber Liability Insurance. To get the most beneficial cover for you or your business, you must first understand why you need it and what you are purchasing. To help you do so, we have put together some of the common terms associated with cyber liability.

Liability

Liability means that you are legally responsible for something. In the case of insurance, that ‘something’ is financial responsibility.

Cyber liability

Cyber liability refers to the responsibility you or your business has in the cyber world. This responsibility can extend to cyber property, data breach fall-out, technology E&O, copyright infringement, and abuse of online privilege. Cyber liability insurance covers damage received by an organization as a result of a cyber-attack or certain risks associated with the storage and use of your cyber property.

Cyber Property

Cyber property is a term given to the things you or your business own in the cyber world. These things could be email addresses, websites, stored data, and/or your network. Just like your physical property can be damaged by water, fire, and unforeseen accidents; your cyber property can be damaged too. This damage can occur in the form of a cyber-attack or technology E&O. You carry car and home insurance, why shouldn’t you carry cyber liability insurance too? To find out how Betters Agency can help you cover all of your property, contact us here.

Data Breach

A data breach occurs when someone has illegally gained access to and stolen data from your business. This type of data is usually gained for reprehensible purposes and can include things like theft of social security numbers, medical records, passwords, bank account information, and home addresses. As a business or individual, you are responsible (liable) for the safety of your client’s or third-party’s data.

Data Breach Notification Laws

Data breach notification laws are exactly that. When your company has a data breach, you are bound by law to notify your clients or third-party entities whose information has been stolen. Each state has its own period for the notification from the time of breach detection. Read up on your state’s breach notification legislature to find out the information that pertains to your business.

Technology E&O

Technology Errors and Omissions are situations where a client or third-party entity suffers a loss because of a technical error or software oversight made by your business. For example, a client stores their organization’s data on your data storage service, your storage service malfunctions, and their data is lost. Therefore, you are now liable due to technical E&O.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property refers to both the written word and media. Everything on the internet is in the public domain and people across the world have access to it. Whether written word or media, the intellectual property belongs to the person or organization who created it unless otherwise stated. To use someone else’s intellectual property without crediting them with recognition, in the case of research, or paying copyright fees, in the case of illegal music downloads, is unlawful and can open you up to being sued for copyright infringement. Certain companies let you pay a fee for use of their property such as PowToon, whereas others provide free use of their property such as Wikimedia. Make sure you stay on the right side of the law when using material on the internet.

Now that you understand the core principles of what Cyber Liability is, go to our article on Cyber Liability Insurance, and see how we can make your cyber experience BETTER.