3 Tips from Woods Rogers’ Cybersecurity Team to Fight Back Against Scary Cyber Risk this Halloween

Every year, Halloween marks the end of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Now is the perfect time to check up on your organization’s cybersecurity practices. Our top three tips for this month will help you get started:


1. Confirm you have “actual” cybersecurity insurance and not a phantom policy.


Do you have cybersecurity insurance in place? Do you know? If you aren’t certain, then you probably do not. Even if you do have cybersecurity insurance, you may not have coverage for the claims you might actually face.

Now is the time to do an in-depth review of your coverage.

 


2. Conduct an honest outside assessment of your security risks.


Often, a company will hire an outside vendor to conduct a “penetration test” to determine if their cyber protections are adequate. However, this sort of testing does not get at the heart of the question: what are your critical vulnerabilities? Often, we only learn about our own weaknesses by asking someone else what they think.

Be mindful, though, of confidentiality when conducting these assessments. If a cyber-risk assessment shows critical vulnerabilities, what have you done to protect the disclosure of this information?

Having a lawyer assist with this process can help avoid serious pitfalls.

 


3. Know your duties as an officer and director as it relates to cyber and privacy issues.


As an officer or director of a company, you have a duty to protect your organization. Your fiduciary duties likely extend to both cybersecurity and data privacy. 

What are you doing to educate your Board of Directors about risk?

If you have a breach event, are you disclosing this information on your financial statements or public filings? How do you know whether you should?

As cybercrime rises, so does breach litigation.

Assess your risk and ask the tough questions–before the worst occurs.


When you think about tricks and treats today, watch out for computers that become ransomware zombies and avoid the monsters that lurk in dark attachments.

If you have any questions about any of these tips, or any other cybersecurity and data privacy questions, please contact a member of the Woods Rogers’ Cybersecurity Practice, chaired by attorney Beth Waller.