Internet liability insurance is a must-have for any business with a website. A small business establishes a Web presence to find new customers and to strengthen relationships with existing customers and clients. Internet liability insurance helps to protect a business and its customers from the unique perils of doing business online.
E-commerce insurance protects companies against a number of potential risks incurred from doing business online. Potential risk factors for small businesses with websites include getting hacked, spammers and troubles with online service functionality. The insidious criminals who perpetrate online crimes necessitate obtaining e-commerce insurance to protect company and customer information.
If a small business website gets hacked, the company and its customers are at risk for viruses and violations of personal and financial information. As more and more companies struggle with the ever-increasing threat of online crimes, e-commerce insurance becomes a necessary component of setting up a small business website.
Traditional small business liability insurance and insurance policies for business owners aren’t enough to protect a company that suffers a website-related loss.
Property insurance coverage for a business protects against physical damage, and does not protect companies against cyber attacks. Traditional small business liability insurance will not protect a company from website copyright infringement or from unauthorized access of customer information online, two major causes of Internet-related lawsuits.
Web business insurance coverages can help compensate companies that experience a website-related loss. Business liability insurance in an e-commerce insurance policy provides coverage for legal liability that arises from online crimes including unauthorized access of customer information.
Web business insurance provides reimbursements that are Internet-specific in nature. Examples of Web insurance claims for businesses might include paying for customers’ identity theft monitoring costs or paying for legal costs. These are both likely outcomes after a website has been hacked. Misappropriation of funds that are redirected by hackers, the direct threat of a website hack or virus as an extortion tactic, system problems caused by viruses and spoofed emails (that look like they originated from the company) are just a few of the covered risks in a comprehensive Web business insurance policy.
Learn more about using your small business website effectively, business liability insurance and marketing your business.
Talk back with this article’s author- tell Lisa Nichols about your experiences buying Web business insurance.