Believe it or not, I still run across prospects that need IT help and they don’t have cyber insurance to protect their business. I’m not an insurance salesman. I am an IT pro, and I know one thing for certain, cyber insurance is a must. One of the biggest risks for most businesses is their IT.

Here’s a quick guide on getting the right coverage for your business. It’s the easiest value-add you can do for yourself in the New Year.

What's NOT covered? This is more important than what is covered. Ask specifically: Are we covered if an employee clicks a phishing link? What about ransomware? Social engineering scams? Wire transfer fraud? Many policies exclude certain types of attacks, which is useless if that's exactly what hits you.

What's the waiting period? Some policies won't kick in until 6-8 hours after an incident. If you're locked out of your systems, that's a long time to wait for help.

Do you provide an incident response team immediately? The best policies give you a phone number to call 24/7 that connects you to actual cybersecurity experts, not just a claims adjuster. Ask who you'll be talking to and what they'll actually do.

What are the sub-limits? Your policy might be $1 million total, but only $100,000 for ransomware payments or $50,000 for PR crisis management. Make sure the sub-limits match your real risks.

Will you cover ransom payments? Not all policies do, and laws vary by location. Know where you stand before you're in a crisis.

Here's the thing most people miss: insurance works way better when you have an incident response plan in place.

Your plan should include a contact list with your IT person, insurance broker, and the insurer's emergency hotline. Document who has authority to make decisions during a crisis (you don't want to wait for your vacationing partner to approve shutting down servers). Create a communication protocol for notifying employees, customers, and vendors. Establish backup procedures and know where your data is stored and how quickly you can restore it.

Many insurers may actually give you a discount if you have a documented incident response plan. More importantly, they're less likely to deny claims if you can show you followed proper procedures.

Be wary if the policy requires you to have "industry-standard security" but doesn't define what that means. Run from vague language about "reasonable precautions" without specifics. Question policies that require pre-approval for incident response—you need help immediately, not after a three-day review process.

Ask your broker this: "Walk me through exactly what happens in the first hour after we discover a breach." If they can't give you a clear answer, find a different broker or insurer.

Getting the right coverage means knowing what questions to ask and having your response plan ready. Do this before you need it, because once you're under attack, it's too late to negotiate.

Until next week,

—Jared 

Text Me: 314.806.3912

In 1999, the S&P 500 peaked. Then it took 14 years to gradually recover by 2013.

Today? Goldman Sachs sounds crazy forecasting 3% returns for 2024 to 2034.

But we’re currently seeing the highest price for the S&P 500 compared to earnings since the dot-com boom.

So, maybe that’s why they’re not alone; Vanguard projects about 5%.

In fact, now just about everything seems priced near all time highs. Equities, gold, crypto, etc.

But billionaires have long diversified a slice of their portfolios with one asset class that is poised to rebound.

It’s post war and contemporary art.

Sounds crazy, but over 70,000 investors have followed suit since 2019—with Masterworks.

You can invest in shares of artworks featuring Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.

24 exits later, results speak for themselves: net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*

My subscribers can skip the waitlist.

Skip waitlist

_{*Investing involves risk. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Important Reg A disclosures: masterworks.com/cd.}

Connect with me. https://linktr.ee/jaredpeno

Let me send this directly to your inbox every week, subscribers also receive special events and downloads that I don’t publish anywhere else.