The Walters Agency Podcast

Cyber Insurance: Protecting Households & Small Businesses From Data Breaches

• Timothy Walters • Episode 19

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What Is Cyber Insurance Protection And Do I Need It?

Your data isn’t just files on a server—it’s the lifeblood of your business and household. When attackers lock systems, drain accounts, or leak client information, the real cost goes far beyond the initial hit. We break down what cyber liability insurance actually does, why small businesses are prime targets, and how families can use homeowners endorsements to recover from identity theft without losing weeks of time and thousands of dollars.

We walk through the big-ticket items most people overlook: forensic investigations, legal defense, regulatory action, customer notifications, credit monitoring, business interruption, data restoration, and cyber extortion response. You’ll hear practical examples of how ransomware can force a complete rebuild and why reputational damage can outlast the breach itself. Then we get tactical on choosing coverage: how to define your must-haves, vet carriers, confirm access to a live and capable claims team, and ensure incident response partners can mobilize fast when every hour counts.

For individuals, we map out the basics of layered protection—strong passwords, multifactor authentication, credit freezes, and phishing awareness—and explain how identity theft endorsements on homeowners policies can cover both proactive monitoring and the messy, expensive recovery process. For business owners, we outline a simple checklist that pairs insurance with security hygiene so you can lower risk, control costs, and protect trust.

If you accept online payments, store client data, or shop from your phone, this guide gives you the clarity and steps to act now. Subscribe for more practical insurance insights, share this with a fellow owner or neighbor who needs it, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

To learn more about The Walters Agency visit:
https://www.brightway.com/agencies/tn/knoxville/0237/team
The Walters Agency
7009 Asheville Hwy
Knoxville, TN 37924
423-417-2070

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Walters Agency Podcast, where insurance meets peace of mind. Hosted by licensed insurance agent and owner Timothy Walters, we're here to help families, homeowners, and small business owners throughout East Tennessee protect what matters most. Our mission? Creating win-win-win solutions for insurance. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_02:

Data breaches to digital theft. Cyber insurance is becoming essential. Find out if your business or your household is truly protected. Welcome back, everybody. Skip Monty here, co-host of the Walters Agency Podcast with uh license agent and owner Timothy Walters in the studio with us. Tim, how you doing?

SPEAKER_01:

Doing good, Skip. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02:

Doing just fine. Doing just fine. I I uh, you know, this kind of spawned from a conversation we had in a previous episode about um get getting hacked or online and and all the dangers of that. And so wanted to ask today, what is cyber insurance protection and do I need it?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, Skip, that's uh, you know, it's a good question. And, you know, most businesses, uh I'm sure we're all aware, uh, to some degree or another, are very reliant on technology. You know, we uh we take our payments electronically, we take uh we do uh our orders online, you know. I mean, how many people shop online? I mean, it's it's crazy, you know, just in the last 10 or 15 years, how much uh things have changed in that regard. And it's all information, it's all ones and zeros floating around out there, and it's one of the most valuable uh uh commodities out there is information. Uh and you know, of course, dishonest people are always constantly trying to get their hands on that information so they can sell it to other dishonest people in order to uh, you know, profit uh in a bad way, you know, in a dishonest way. So uh, you know, as a business owner, uh, you know, I think more and more businesses, especially small business owners, uh, need to pay attention to this. Um so basically, you know what cyber insurance or cyber liability insurance is, it's uh, you know, for any kind of organization that uses a technology to do business. Basically, if you have a data breach or you have a situation where bad actors have penetrated your informational networks and have, you know, taken your clients or your uh information uh or gained access to financial accounts and there's damages, as the business owner, as the person who is the fiduciary uh of that uh information, you know, you could be liable for those damages. And especially for a small business, which I am, or even a medium or or fairly large business, honestly, those types of damages, as expensive as they can get, uh, could be absolutely ruinous. I mean, put put it it has put businesses out of business. I'm uh yeah, I'm killbilly English here. Um, so you know, cyber liability insurance, you know, it covers a lot of different things. Uh actually I have a little list I pulled up for one of my carriers. Uh, and this isn't all-encompassing, but you know, this is a few things. So it can cover expenses uh stemming from forensic investigations, litigation expenses, regulatory defense expenses, and fines uh that may be uh assessed to your business, uh, crisis management expenses, business interruption, uh, because this kind of thing can and does put people out of, you know, out of operation for periods of time. Cyber extortion, uh, you've heard about the people who will install software that locks businesses out of access to everything unless they, you know, uh pay a certain amount of money. Uh that actually happened to Pelissippi State several years ago, uh, and it caused them to have to shut down and rebuild their entire uh uh network, their their entire technological network from scratch. Those are all, like I said, those are all things that can be covered by cyber policy. Uh they're all things that uh if you don't have the insurance in place, if you had to pay that out of pocket, again, that could be ruinously expensive. And even if it wasn't, even if you've got deep pockets as a business owner or or whatever, um, you know, it's it's time. It's time that, you know, for forensic investigations, you know, you're gonna have to find somebody to take care of that for you and you're gonna have to pay them. Uh, whereas, you know, the insurance companies will typically have uh resources like that on retainer that they use uh in those situations to help uh mitigate the damage and hopefully, you know, uh, you know, fix things. Uh so you want to have uh uh some kind of cyber uh coverage in place, you know, for your own peace of mind, you know, to protect your business, but also to protect your clients and to protect your reputation. Um because in the end, you know, all businesses uh rely on their reputation. Uh, you know, if people think that they're not going to be safe doing business with uh, you know, particular, you know, insurance agent or uh bank or or or I don't know, online retailer or whatever, then they're not gonna do it. Yeah, and so you want to make sure that you don't get the reputation as a company or a business that just doesn't have that kind of protection uh put in place.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, and and I could see where specifically for businesses, especially small businesses, uh, where this would be critical. What about an individual uh, you know, like like me or just you know, a an a person, family?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, well, yeah, I mean, uh, you can actually uh I typically see this as something you can uh purchase through your homeowner's insurance policy. Uh I've noticed a lot of homeowners' policies do have endorsements that you can add on uh to help uh uh reimburse for like identity theft. Uh they're they're twofold, right? They have the act of protection, you know, you know, actively trying to protect your data, which is good, uh, but nothing's 100%. Uh and two, if there is some kind of data breach, if your information is compromised, uh there's a certain amount of insurance for damages, uh, you know, like if somebody steals a bunch of money from you or takes out loans in your name, which happens all the time, there's a way for them to help cover the expenses uh of you getting that put back to order.

SPEAKER_02:

Very good to know. So what is let's say, of course, you know, my wife shops exclusively online, you know, as she's an Amazon freak. Um I shouldn't have said that, but um what should somebody like uh yeah, too late, like her, uh what should we look like, uh look for? What what should we look for when when trying to choose a cyber policy?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I I think it's it's it's very much like you you would choose any product, you know, you would you would see, first off, is this if it's just a legitimate company, right? You do a little research, uh, you know, you check out uh you know Better Business Bureau, you see what their history is. And uh, you know, me, I'm a I'm a big fan of, I like to do business with companies that let me access a live human being uh to speak with, who I can actually communicate with. Again, I hate to say this, but I don't like it when I get offshore uh customer service or uh, you know, sales support, uh, especially for something like this. Again, that's not because I have anything against people, it's just I want to be able to know that you know it's a US-based uh organization that if I do have an issue, I'm gonna be able to effectively communicate with people. That's just me. You know, other people may not care a bit about talking to another human being. They might be like, oh, I just want to do everything on, you know, by text, right? I know a lot of younger people like that. Um, but I'll do a little research uh on the companies and you kind of figure out exactly what you're wanting to protect against. If you're doing a lot of online shopping, then you probably do want to make sure that your uh your data is not being captured and sold. Uh and there are companies that actually do uh track or try to uh go out there and track that, identify instances where that's going on and try to shut that down. Um I'm sure that some of my data has gotten out there uh because I get texts all the time with people, you know, saying, oh, you know, we, you know, uh something about this loan that you've applied for or whatever. A lot of us is phishing. It's trying to get me to, you know, reach back out to them to provide more information so they can complete the circuit. Um, but all of our information has been out there, you know, if we've done anything online over the last 20 or 30 years, which all of us have pretty much, um, it's out there. It's a matter of, you know, has somebody gotten their hands on it and have they attempted to, you know, sell it, use it, or whatever. So definitely, you know, kind of decide, you know, what am I trying to accomplish by purchasing this service uh or product, and then, you know, try to identify the companies that are gonna best serve those needs. Um, and you know, go from there. It's like any other uh product or service. You want to make sure you do your research.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Tim, uh appreciate it. Thanks again. That was incredibly helpful. I think a lot of people don't realize they need to do that, and they should, especially in today's world. So appreciate that very much. And uh we'll catch you the next time on the Walters Agency Podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, awesome, always a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a wrap on this episode of the Walters Agency Podcast. Ready to find the right coverage for your home, business, or family? Call or text 423-417-2070 for a free 20 minute consultation. Until next time, stay covered, stay protected, and keep winning with the Walters Agency.