Cyber Liability for Educational Institutions
When it comes to privacy and network security liability, educational institutions have a unique and expensive exposure.
Lesson 1: It’s Different for Schools
School administrators face a variety of complicated risk exposures. First, they must safeguard the personal and financial information of many groups – students, students’ parents, faculty, applicants and employees. In addition they face regulatory mandates on data capture and storage – particularly with respect to health care privacy concerns. And in addition to protecting their broad array of networks from harms such as viruses and hacking, they must also consider new threats to their student population such as cyber bullying.
Lesson 2: Cha Ching!
 | The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, which has tracked reported data breaches since 2005, reports 584 education breach incidents through 2011, for a total of over 9 million records.The total estimated cost for “educational breaches” during this period is over $1.4 billion. And the incidents just keep coming. |
Lesson 3: Avoid the Void
Cyber liability exposure necessitates a solution that blends first party and third party coverage and it calls for solutions that address post-loss activities, such as breach notification services or credit monitoring. Neither General Liability nor Professional Liability insurance policies are designed to address the comprehensive nature of privacy and network liability. Cyber policies were created and have proliferated specifically to fill the void and to offer insureds additional and necessary benefits such as crisis coverage.
Lesson 4: Coverage is Available and Affordable
The insurance marketplace for network and privacy liability coverage remains competitive, with ample capacity. Pricing will vary depending on the size of the school, type and volume of records kept, and the nature and breadth of technology and networks that are used.
Contact Us Today!
Preferred Advantage has significant experience helping agents secure quality coverage for their educational clients. Contact us today to learn more about cyber insurance solutions.
