Cyber incidents rarely start with alarms or obvious system failures. Increasingly, they originate from trusted third parties, and the ensuing disruptions can impact a business much faster than anticipated. We sat down with Polina Kesov, Director at ii-A and an expert in cyber risk and insurance for small and mid-sized businesses, to better understand the reality of a cyber incident.
It was a Saturday when the call came through. ii-A’s trusted IT provider of over 10 years had been hacked, and all client systems needed to be shut down immediately.
Even though the insurance company itself wasn’t hacked, they were thrust into the aftermath of cybercrime and lost more than 20% of revenue.
“It was incredibly stressful. Everything we had spent years building was on the cloud, and we couldn’t access any of it,” says Polina Kesov, Director at ii-A Insurance.
“We were down for two weeks - the uncertainty, not knowing how far it had gone or what the impact might be, was awful. We were lucky not to lose data, but that was a real concern.”
Q: What is the biggest misconception business owners have?
Many believe they're too small to be targeted, or that investing in cyber insurance will cost too much.
People often insure their cars or homes without thinking twice, yet cyber cover for a small business can start from as little as $800 a year, protecting their income.
Q: What do cyber incidents actually look like in real businesses on a day-to-day basis?
Most of what we see is social engineering. It involves someone pretending to be you, contacting your bank, or pretending to be your business and calling your clients to request information or payments.
There’s also a lot of misunderstanding around what to do in the moment. Many people think that paying a ransom will solve the problem, but it can void your policy and create further risk.
Q: How common is cyber crime?
According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre, a cybercrime is reported every six minutes in Australia, with the average cost to small businesses being around $49,600.
At ii-A, we see plenty of notifications of cyber attack threats that are too premature to actually result in a claim. It may be a phishing alert or another attempt that didn’t result in a breach. While it can be unsettling for our clients, they are often reassured by their internal processes.
Q: What does cyber insurance actually do at that moment?
A cyber insurer gives you immediate access to a critical response team that can step in, contain the issue, and guide you through it - and not just compensate at claim time.
This invaluable response can include forensic IT, legal advice and system recovery, with guidance on what to do immediately and how to prevent it from recurring.
Many businesses assume their existing cover or IT support will handle it, but most standard policies don’t respond to cyber incidents or the cost of recovery.
Q: What do you do to protect your business from a cyber attack?
One of the biggest lessons learned was the importance of not having all our systems in one place. If one goes down, having another system in place ensures that the business can continue running.
We now prioritise educating our staff on cyber security. They are trained to recognise potential threats and know how to respond, and we also share this knowledge with our clients.
Review Your Cover Before it’s Tested
If your systems went down tomorrow, would you be covered?
ii-A helps you understand your risk before it becomes a problem.