Cyber Liability

We surveyed dozens of attorneys who are under the impression that they don’t need cyber because their professional liability policy covers them for a breach of confidentiality as confidentiality is a duty and a part of providing their professional services. While this  is correct, does cyber insurance only cover breach of confidentiality? 

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Professional Liability Coverage does not pay for a team of forensic experts to evaluate the breach: 

1. How did the hacker get in? 
2. Are they still in your systems? 
3. Can you extract them? 
4. Can you ensure they are out of your network through tests?
5. Did they take any other data?
6. Do you have a legal responsibility to notify victims? How will you pay for this? his all comes with additional costs that the Professional Liability Coverage fails to properly address. 

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Recent attacks against law firms include the threat to post their clients’ confidential data publicly on the internet unless a ransom is paid. Professional Liability insurance would cover the lawsuit from the damaged client for breach of privacy. Professional Liability would not pay the ransom or other expenses related to the cyber event. 

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Now that the lawyer has had their client’s data strewn all over the internet, will the Professional Liability Policy provide coverage for damage to reputation and reputational loss? 

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There are a whole host of other cyber perils that the lawyer is ignoring: funds transfer fraud, bricking, and crypto-jacking are a few. Do those risks sound familiar, of course! Covered by Professional Liability - No!