Did you know you can insure your business against cyber-attacks in Alberta? Cyber liability insurance is a type of insurance you can use to protect yourself from losses due to technological risks that come in the form of cyber-attacks. This includes losses from data breaches, stolen data, extortion attempts by hackers, or attacks that cause disruptions in your services.
Cyber insurance can also help you get the guidance and resources required to take remedial actions in the event of a security incident. Usually, cyber insurance covers the costs that come with incident response, legal expenses, and revenue losses that a cyber attack could cause.
Now, as with any insurance claim, there are certain important regulations that you need to comply with to qualify for your claims. You will have to ensure that you did indeed take the necessary precautions and the cyber-attack you suffered was something you could not have expected to prevent. The best way to let your insurer know your security measures is by providing a cyber security audit.
Most security standards and regulatory bodies emphasize the need for security audits to keep yourself protected and ready to combat cyber-attacks.
And most importantly, you could lose out on your insurance or even suffer penalties if you fail to keep up with cybersecurity audits.
What is a cyber security audit?
A cybersecurity audit is an audit process that includes a comprehensive analysis and review of your entire IT infrastructure, processes, operations, and standards. These audits help you identify cyber risks, vulnerabilities, and threats and ensure your infrastructure, tools, and processes are up-to-date and compliant with security standards.
The outcome of a cybersecurity audit is to ensure that your security systems are up to date and have no known vulnerabilities unattended. Security audits must be conducted regularly and follow an established framework with proper baselines, benchmarks, and best practices. They can be conducted by internal security experts outsourced to third-party organizations. Outsourcing cyber security audits to expert third-party services provides an advantage as it ensures objective evaluation and unbiased auditing, besides the access to higher levels of expertise and efficiency for the auditing process.
The scope of a security audit can include all aspects of security, such as data, network, operations, physical infrastructure, software tools, and systems.
How does it help?
Cybersecurity audits are a great tool to help you identify and manage known vulnerabilities in your security framework. They:
- Help ensure your cybersecurity control mechanisms are properly in place and effective.
- Help you protect your sensitive data from unauthorized access
- Identify and remediate security risks
- Help you prepare efficient incident response plans
- Make sure you meet the baseline requirements and set the proper thresholds.
- Optimize your security training programs
- Improve trust and reputation among your stakeholders and customers
- Verify the effectiveness and completeness of your security policies. Also helps make sure that your team is following the security protocols properly.
Importance Of Cybersecurity Audit for Insurance Compliance
A cyber security audit is not just a best practice to implement. It is an essential practice that is required to stay compliant to avoid insurance violations and penalties from regulatory bodies. Several governments worldwide make it mandatory to include cybersecurity audits as part of every company’s cybersecurity strategy.
Sometimes, governing bodies can also conduct audits to ensure you stay compliant with the data regulations and security standards. Failing to keep up with these standards can result in penalties. For instance, British Columbia and Alberta may impose fines of up to $100,000 for noncompliance.
Similarly, failing to conduct security audits can cause you to lose your insurance claims. Your audit logs and reports will be used to evaluate your security framework and make sure that any data breach or privacy violation was not due to fault on your part. If your cyber security audit is lacking, this could indicate that your security systems were not maintained properly and thus make you liable for the damages caused.
Based on the nature of the audit, you could perform specialized audits focusing on compliance, penetration testing, risk assessment, and more. An expert service provider such as Tier 3 IT can help you achieve a complete and comprehensive cybersecurity audit that satisfies all your security and compliance requirements.
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At Tier3 IT, we understand the importance of a robust technology infrastructure for your business. That’s why we offer a comprehensive suite of services ranging from network monitoring and cybersecurity to cloud solutions and data backup. With Tier3 IT at your side, rest assured that your technology needs are in capable hands.
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