Hartford's data breach insurance provides coverage for expenses and legal liability resulting from a data breach. It also provides access to services to help business owners comply with regulatory requirements and address customer concerns.
According to a survey by Trend Micro, data loss is a growing concern for small businesses, but that a majority of those surveyed do not have data loss prevention policies in place and do not have data loss prevention training for employees.
The Hartford's small business data breach insurance includes: first-party coverage for response expenses, including legal and forensic services, notification expenses, crisis management, and good faith advertising expenses; third-party coverage for defense and liability, including defense costs, civil awards, settlements, or judgments that an insured is legally obligated to pay; access to a secure breach preparedness website that offers tips and guidelines for safeguarding customer, patient, and employee information, for preparing a data breach incident response plan, and for complying with regulatory requirements by state; and help with breach notifications and credit monitoring for victims of identity theft or fraud.
"For smaller businesses in particular, the ability to respond quickly and appropriately to a data breach is critical to restoring customer trust. This coverage is designed to give business owners the peace of mind that they can better protect against, respond to and recover from a breach", said Raymond Sprague, senior vice president of small commercial insurance at Hartford.
The Hartford provides the breach preparedness resources and consultative services through an alliance with Identity Theft 911, which is a provider of identity and data risk management and resolution services.