| | December 20228CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONIn the world of risk management, cyber insurance could be said to be emerging from its adolescence. Born in the 1990's and first popularized in the 2000's in response to the growth of e-commerce, the product has rapidly expanded to address the full spectrum of potential compromises to a company's network security and data privacy. Just like any adolescent, the product has gone through its own set of "growing pains," but is becoming an essential component of cybersecurity for many businesses. By now, most Americans have experienced the inconvenience of having to register for credit monitoring after receiving notice from a merchant that their personal account information has been compromised. This "data breach" is what the ordinary citizen associates with the concept of cyber risk. However, as more businesses have "gone paperless," their networks have become more than a place to host a website and receive credit card payments. Information systems now manage such functions as procurement, inventory control, human resources, accounting, and invoicing. An outage to a company's computer system (or "network interruption") often results in lost income and extra expense, but this is not the only way for the paperless workplace to be disrupted. Other concerns include the risks posed by social engineering and the growing threat of ransomware. Facing the potential of all these cybersecurity events, many businesses CYBER INSURANCE: EVOLVING THREATS DEMAND CUTTING-EDGE COVERAGEBy David M. Finz, First Vice President, Alliant Insurance ServicesDavid M. Finz
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