Construction industry data

Data breaches continue to escalate and garner national attention. The most recent news-making incident was the hack of electronic toy maker, VTech. The Risk Insurance Management Society’s Cyber Survey in May 2015 provided important benchmarking information for risk managers continuing to grapple with data security and procurement of cyber insurance. Some of the important takeaways include: that most companies either have standalone cyber insurance at this point, and the rest are seriously considering it now. Companies of all sizes — and across all industries — need to consider cyber insurance as part of their overall program.

The situation is getting so bad that businesses, large and small, finally are realizing that the question is not if they will get breached, but when. The construction industry is not immune from data breaches.

For example, national retailer Target was breached when hackers accessed the HVAC company’s network that was tied into Target’s computer system. Target has spent well over $100 million responding, and that HVAC vendor is bankrupt.

Those in the construction industry need to remember, the issue is a privacy breach, not just a cyber breach. That means that paper is still a source for an old-fashioned privacy breach. Many industry sectors, including construction, still mistakenly believe that, if they do not deal with the general public as customers or possess a lot of credit card information, they are not at risk. Not true. The Target case is a classic example of how wrong that thinking is today.

How data privacy insurance helps prepare for a breach response

For most companies, the significant costs associated with responding to a data privacy breach cannot be borne internally. Robust data privacy insurance is required to shift the risk for the company. Going through the process of purchasing such insurance is the first step to good coverage and a strong response plan. The premiums and policy limits are relative to a company’s risk, so that ratio allows a business of any size to consider such coverage.