Construction sites provide a golden opportunity for cyberspace mischief makers and thieves alike. Contractors and subcontractors share huge data sets including pictures, drawings, submittals, photographs and various other files where viruses and spy ware hides.
And, if the site is wi-fi friendly, hackers and the disgruntled gain easy access to everyone else's computers.
Even with the normal defenses, firewalls, anti-viral software and password protection, the legal responsibility in most states is absolute - you must protect data from compromise. Think about smaller subcontractors that may keep employee personal identification information on their jobsite laptop.
The costs associated with a breach of sensitive data includes:
- Public relations - a nightmare
- Forensic analysis - determine the extent, cause and source of the breach
- Revenue loss
- Business disruption - can you continue to build or plan securely
- Legal - defense costs
- Notification to any party potentially affected
The cost to rectify these factors approaches $200 per record. According to the Travelers website, in large companies, the average claim is over five million dollars.
Too small for a cyber attack? Over one quarter of all attacks are against companies with fewer than one hundred employees. Those laptops are a goldmine of personal data.
Think about using dedicated computers for shared jobsite communications which do not access personal or company sensitive data.
Buy Cyber Liability coverage to insure the costs associated with:
* Network and information security liability
* Communications and media liability
* Regulatory defense expenses which pays for fines and penalties.
Cyber liability can be purchased as an add-on coverage in a package or as a single policy. This coverage is an important part of your risk management plan, particularly when sharing massive data with other stakeholders.
And, cyber breaches occur more frequently every day, up over 40% this year. This claim can bankrupt your company, use every avoidance risk management technique to avoid the loss, then insure to avoid disaster.