SMEs slow to take up cyber cover in NZ

Very few small businesses have purchased cyber attack insurance, despite almost one in five experiencing an attack, a new survey shows.

Just six per cent of the 500 small businesses surveyed by Norton had already purchased the insurance, with nine percent considering buying it in 2017.

Yet 18 percent of the businesses had already experienced some sort of cyber attack.

Cyber insurance acts as a safety net against data breaches that are usually not covered by regular business insurance. It can cover data loss, loss of profit, extortion, and reputation management in the wake of major privacy leaks.

“It’s a relatively new area of insurance,” said Mark Gorrie of Norton to Stuff, “it can be a business’ safety net when all else fails.”

The primary fear businesses who had cyber insurance were insuring against was data loss. Data loss costs can spiral well beyond simple data recovery, as consumers lose trust in companies holding their personal details.