Online Security Breaches: How Cyber Insurance Can Help You Hack it

The January sales have evolved from a chaotic rush to grab bargains on the High Street, to a month-long blizzard of promotions, especially online. But these events also come with a certain amount of risk.

Christopher Ashton, Head of Cyber at The Insurance Octopus says: “For those handling many more online sales we’d urge them to tighten up their cyber security to mitigate risks which could lead to data breaches and fines. Cyber criminals will aim to take advantage of the fact that more consumers than usual will be shopping online.”

In the face of these challenges, Sophos’s data10 report almost a third of retail organisations whose data was encrypted paid the ransom to get their data back. However, those who did pay only got back, on average, 67% of their data, leaving almost a third inaccessible, and just 9% got all their encrypted data back. While this is slightly higher than the global average (65%/8%), it’s clear that paying the ransom does not pay off.

Other common retail cyber-attacks include injection attacks, IP address infiltration, email address hacks and fake payments from online shopping carts.

To address these cyber risks, Christopher notes that there are several things you can do: “Invest in online security tools, such as antivirus software, security plugins and training your staff to identify potential threats, such as phishing attacks and suspicious emails. Introducing internal compliance standards and regulations that employees must follow.”

He adds: “As well as this, taking out a Cyber Insurance policy can minimise business disruption and cover losses in the event of a cyber-attack. Keeping customer data safe – such as credit card and debit card information – is also important, as otherwise, negative customer reviews can damage your shop’s reputation. Privacy protections should always be put in place.”