INSUREtrust Announces New Internet Insurance Product

Norcross, GA -- (SBWire) -- 12/05/2012 --IT security firms are at the forefront of the cyber war, and have first-hand knowledge of how difficult it can be to defend against a data breach. Most companies today need help navigating the perils of the digital world, as well as the complexities of cyber liability insurance, so the IT firm is vitally important in discussing both topics with its clients.

Now INSUREtrust is offering an internet insurance product that helps IT security firms go beyond just implementation of digital security. By enabling them to warrant their services, IT firms can now bundle warranties with their security service offerings. Thus, they can improve their value proposition.

Big plus for merchants using credit cards

Here’s how it works: Let’s say your IT security firm has as a client a retail store that accepts all the major credit cards, and the store also has a web site that takes credit card payments. The payment card industry (PCI) rules dictate that if the store is hacked, it must undergo a PCI audit. These audits are expensive, but as a merchant using credit cards, your client has no choice but to comply.

But your IT firm offered the store a warranty at the beginning of your contract with them, and this warranty says that if the PCI demands an audit from them, then your IT firm will pay for it.

The warranty is a premium service that takes out the cost of the audit for the customer. To offer this, your IT firm would create a service package and everyone within that particular package would have to receive the warranty.

So now, your client gets the required audit at a fraction of what it would have cost otherwise, and your customer also gets the assurance that the insurance carrier will hire you to do the forensics investigation and audit if there is a breach.

This is huge, because normally, the insurance carrier picks their own IT security firm to come in and look at the client’s network, and the insured client has no control over what security firm that is.

This typical insurance carrier approach leads to two problems: First, most customers are uncomfortable with a strangers looking at their data, even if those strangers are IT security consultants hired by their insurance carrier. Second, this method puts you as the customer’s IT security expert into potential contention with the outside IT firm that is conducting an audit.

But with the warranty approach offered by INSUREtrust, both these problems are solved, and your IT firm is tied more closely to your customers.

The warranty product offered by INSUREtrust covers other industries in addition to merchants, including medical and dental offices, and banking institutions.

Future products planned for other IT services

In the future, be on the lookout for information about insured warranties that can be offered by other IT companies, including those that offer cloud-based services (file storage, Software as a Service, etc.) and those that host web sites.

About INSUREtrust
Steve Haase, president of INSUREtrust, has 25 years of experience in risk management and insurance and B.A. and M.S. degrees in risk management and insurance from Georgia State University. He also holds CPCU and ARM designations. He is a frequent speaker at industry events on e-business risk management. In 1997 he launched the first insurance product focused on “breach of security” exposures for companies doing business over the Internet. This initiative eventually became INSUREtrust LLC, a leading cyber liability wholesaler in Norcross, Ga.