Small businesses often assume cyber insurance is for tech companies. The exposure is actually about the data and money you handle, and small businesses are targeted precisely because their defenses are lighter.
The test is data and money, not industry
If your business stores customer information, accepts card or online payments, uses cloud systems, or moves money, you have cyber exposure. A retailer with a point-of-sale system, a contractor who invoices by email, and a nonprofit with donor data are all targets, regardless of whether they think of themselves as “tech.”
What cyber covers
Cyber coverage generally addresses breach response, the cost of notifying customers and handling a data incident, liability to others affected, ransomware, and business interruption from a cyber event. Critically, it can also cover funds-transfer and social-engineering fraud, where an attacker tricks someone into sending money or changing payment details.
The fraud coverage owners overlook
Business email compromise, a spoofed email redirecting a payment, hits small businesses constantly and is not always covered by a basic policy. If your business sends or receives payments, make sure the cyber policy specifically includes funds-transfer and social-engineering coverage.
What to do
Inventory the data you store and how money moves through the business. Then confirm a cyber policy matches that, including the fraud coverage. As carriers now expect basic security controls, a review also confirms you meet what they require.