Who’s Need Washington Data Breach Insurance?
Washington data breach insurance (also known as cyber liability) is beneficial for any business that relies on technology to conduct operations. It will behoove any organization that does any of the following to invest in this type of coverage:
- Communicates with clients through email, social media, or text messaging.
- Sends or receives electronic documents.
- Uses forms of electronic media for advertising purposes; social media channels or a website, for example.
- Uses a computer network to store pertinent data; accounting records, sales projections, or tax documents, for example.
- Sells goods via a website.
- Stores information that belongs to clients or employees on a computer network; names, addresses, credit card numbers, medical records, dates of birth, social security numbers, or personal identification numbers, for example.
What Does Washington Data Breach Insurance Cover?

When a data breach or cyber attack occurs, your business and the people it services are at risk of having sensitive information compromised. Personal identification numbers, social security numbers, birth dates, medical records, credit history, and various other types of important information can be stolen by whoever is being the attack. Several tragic things can occur as a result of a data breach or cyber attack; for example, identities can be stolen and credit can be destroyed.
Washington data breach insurance, also known as cyber liability insurance, aids in covering the costs of the issues that arise as a result of a breach in data security. For instance, this insurance can help to pay for identity protection solutions, legal fees, public relations, liability, and so much more.
From an insurance point of view, two different types of data breaches can occur: breaches that affect a business, and breaches that affect the clients of a business. There are two different types of insurance for these two different types of data breaches:
First Party Washington Data Breach Insurance. This type of cyber liability coverage will help to pay for the costs of the losses a business faces when hit by a cyber attack or data breach. To be more specific, first party data breach insurance covers:
- Forensic and legal expenses; the cost of any investigations that could be associated with the breach of records.
- The expenses that are associated with crisis management and letting clients know that a breach has occurred.
- Good faith advertising costs; the expenses that are associated with advertisements that are created to announce the breach to the public and any publicity that may result from the announcement.
Third Party Washington Data Breach Insurance. This type of cyber liability coverage assists with the costs that are associated with any lawsuits that may arise after a data breach has compromised the data of a business’ clients. In more detail, third party insurance covers:
- The culmination of the losses that result from any lawsuits clients may file against a business, as well as the cost of any other type of legal actions that a company might face as a result of a breach of data.
What Washington Data Breach Insurance Doesn’t Cover
WA cyber liability insurance typically does not cover (excludes):
- Breaches of protected information in paper files.
- Claims brought by the government or regulators.
- Negligence – The failure to install software updates or security patches.
- Unencrypted data.
- Vicarious liability – For data entrusted to a third-party vendor that is subsequently breached.
How Much Does Washington Data Breach Insurance Cost?
How much does Washington data breach insurance cost? The cost of this type of coverage varies depending on the type of data breach insurance you choose and the amount of coverage you opt for. Cyber liability insurance premiums are calculated on a company’s industry, services, type of sensitive data stored or collected or processed, the total number of PII/PHI records, computer and network security, privacy policies and procedures and annual gross revenue, and more.
List Of Large Data Breaches
This list shows just some if the companies whose customer data was compromised in just 2016 and 2017 – it is hard to imagine how much damage the breach caused the companies, insurers and most important customers or account holders:
- Adobe
- Adult Friend Finder
- America’s JobLink
- Anthem
- Arby’s
- Blue Cross Blue Shield / Anthem
- Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center
- Brooks Brothers
- Washington Association of Realtors
- Chipotle
- Deep Root Analytics
- Deloitte
- Disqus
- DocuSign
- Dun & Bradstreet
- eBay
- E-Sports Entertainment Association (ESEA)
- Equifax
- FAFSA: IRS Data Retrieval Tool
- Forever 21
- Gmail
- Heartland Payment Systems
- Home Depot
- Hyatt Hotels
- Imgur
- InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
- JP Morgan Chase
- Kmart
- Maine Foster Care
- OneLogin
- Online Spambot
- River City Media
- RSA Security
- SVR Tracking
- Sabre Hospitality Solutions
- Saks Fifth Avenue
- Sonic
- Sony’s PlayStation Network
- Stuxnet
- Target Stores
- TalentPen and TigerSwan
- TIO Networks
- TJX Companies, Inc.
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- UNC Health Care
- Uber
- University of Oklahoma
- US Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
- Verifone
- VeriSign
- Verizon
- Washington State University
- Whole Foods Market
- Xbox 360 ISO and PSP ISO
- Yahoo!
Further Reading On Cyber Liability Insurance
WA Data Breach Insurance Quotes
Request a Washington Data Breach Insurance quote in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Chula Vista, Concord, Corona, Elk Grove, Escondido, Fontana, Fremont, Fresno, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Glendale, Hayward, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Lancaster, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Modesto, Moreno Valley, Oakland, Oceanside, Ontario, Orange, Oxnard, Palmdale, Pasadena, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, Roseville, Sacramento, Salinas, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santa Clarita, Santa Rosa, Simi Valley, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Vallejo, Victorville, Visalia and all other cities in WA.
The Washington Department of Insurance
The WA Dept. of Insurance is the regulatory agency behind the insurance rules for the state of Washington. If you want to understand these rules, then this is definitely the agency that you need to focus on. Let’s start with limits within the state.
Washington Minimum Insurance Limits
- For auto insurance, Washington requires $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident.
- For life insurance, there are certain regulations in place to determine how someone is able to get or offer life insurance, but there are no limits listed.
- For commercial insurance, insurance agents may offer broker or casualty insurance as well as covered property insurance, covered causes of loss, specified perils and open perils along with a number of coverage forms like builder’s risk, legal liability, building ordinance, glass, peak season, inflation guard and peak element.
WA Insurance Regulations
As for regular insurance regulations there are a lot of things that Washington provides that you can look up. For example, there are deadlines for the insurer to pay the claim or deny it, deadlines for submitting paperwork to prove a loss for insurance reimbursement, specific information your insurance company is required to give you and regulations on what information you have to provide to your insurance company.
One of the Washington regulations calls for you to be treated by your insurance company in good faith. This means that your insurer must be considered of your needs and must communicate completely and honestly with you about your policy and everything that you need to know about it in order to make a good decision. In turn, you are legally obligated to be honest and cooperative with your insurance company when it comes to your claim.
You should also be aware that your insurance company is required to offer prompt, honest and complete communications. The company and all of its representatives must respond to your communications within 15 calendar days with a complete response based upon the facts that are known.
Finally, be aware that your insurance company is required to have a fair claims process. Unless it is specified in your policy, you do not have to use the forms that are provided to you by your insurance provider in order to make a claim. You can create a list of losses on your own if you need to. In addition, insurers are not able to ask for unreasonable proof of loss. If you provide photographic evidence or video of items that you lost, insurers are not able to ask you to provide additional information.