Today in the Wall Street Journal, reporter Leslie Scism quoted Bloomberg News that "Target's data breach 'was the equivalent of 10 free Super Bowl ads."
"The holiday hacker attack on Target was a nightmare for the retailer, but it has delivered a giant gift to insurers that sell policies covering the costs of cyberintrusions.
"With vulnerability to hacking in stark relief, insurance brokers say sales of cyberinsurance have picked up sharply this year. The interest is coming from a diverse mix of customers, including public schools. Many policies cover the costs of investigations, customer notifications and credit-monitoring services, as well as legal expenses and damages from consumer lawsuits.
"Kevin Kalinich, a senior executive at Aon Risk Solutions, said inquiries from potential buyers have tripled since the recent hackings and a greater portion of callers are buying. Before, "we were selling 1.2 policies for every 10 inquiries," he added. "Since, it is 4.2 for every 10 inquiries."
I would recommend getting one of these cyber insurance policies, but you should also ask for a discount if you are running an effective security awareness training program since that will cut down the risk of a data breach significantly. Remember that Trend Micro reported a few months ago that 91% of successful data breaches started with a spear-phishing attack.
