Internet Business Insurance

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Are you looking forward to have insurance for your online business? If you are worried for your internet business which can be hampered due to others’ misconduct then get your business insured before they ruin you.

May people now earn from home or some rented spaces by running businesses in the Internet to promote other companies' products and services, or sell their own products or consulting, research, administrative, or technology-based services to other users in the Net.

Operators of these online businesses that are emerging in today's age of technological advancement are involved in a new kind of business – that without solid structure and which faces threats unlike that met by traditional business owners: website copyright infringement and unauthorized and dangerous disclosures of classified information.

A typical insurance bought by such business operators may cover the basic equipment in running the business -- the computer and its accessories -- from loss or physical damages. But this is not enough to protect their businesses from threats of hackers, spammers, troubles with online service functionality, or website copyright infringement. Business owners who deal with confidential information in the Net are the ones highly vulnerable to such problems.

If a Website of an internet business is hacked, it and its clients are at risk for attack of viruses and of violations of personal and financial information. Because of these dangers, business owners are exposed to potential lawsuits arising from these crimes. They need specific types of insurance policies to cover the potential damages of these lawsuits to their business and the cost of fighting them.

Insurers now have specialized insurance offerings specially catered to protect Internet business owners. For example, Travelers, a large commercial property-liability insurer based in the U.S., offers four special insurance packages to protect business owners and help them pay for expenses in litigation. One package covers key technology property exposure including computer hardware, software and data, direct physical loss, and theft. Another offers protection for bodily, personal and advertising injury, as well as property damage and medical expenses. This package also provides legal defense against claims that seek compensation for such injuries. Travelers also have an E&O coverage that could protect business owners for damage they must pay to customers because of an error, omission or negligent act involving their products or work.

Lastly, its Technology Internet Liability Protection package covers damages resulting from failure to protect private or confidential information, or to prevent transmission of computer viruses. It also covers damages from infringement of intellectual properties, and their unauthorized use for advertising, for one.

Internet business owners can benefit from these kinds of insurances because these Web business insurance plans can compensate them for loss related to their operations in the Net. Web business insurance provides reimbursements for a variety of Internet-specific expenses, such as payment for customers' identity theft monitoring costs or paying for legal costs.

To determine the extent at which business owners should protect their online businesses, the Center for Internet Security provides a security 'ruler' that represents a set of security-enhancing actions. It provides organizations with choices of the level of security appropriate for certain operations and corresponding recommendations to get that security level. These CIS benchmarks can be customized to suit specific industries or specific risk profiles.

This standard ensures comparable levels of security for all companies that take out Internet business insurance.

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2 Comments

Mr said on November 6, 2009
We have an online business which is run from home. What I DON'T want is:
I DO NOT WANT LIABILITY INSURANCE - FOR FIVE YEARS WE HAVE NEVER EVER HAD ANYONE TO THE HOME TO PICK UP MERCHANDISE. I DO NOT WANT COMPUTER HARDWARE INSURANCE - THESE ARE EXPENSIVE ITEMS NOT ASSETS AND CAN BE EASILY REPLACED FOR A FEW DOLLARS AT WALMART.
I DO NOT WANT WEBSITE INSURANCE, THIS IS ALREADY COVERED. What is NOT currently covered is the products that we have for sale, the inventory that is at our home but not covered by our homeowners policy. Our inventory varies from $15k - $25k throughout the year. Coverage should be less than $250 per year as nothing else is needed to be covered. This is a HUGE HUGE market with all of the online sellers. No insurance company currently offers this insurance without liability insurance, making the cost $1500+ per year (roughly 25% of our annual gross sales!!!) Offering this insurance may even lead to covering these new customers with other services (home, auto, etc.). Online selling has been a booming industry for over 15 years, yet no one in insurance represents these customers. Please do not reply unless you have a new type of coverage that covers only inventory for our home based online business.
Mr said on November 6, 2009
Oops, I mis-spoke. Coverage should be less than $250 per YEAR, not per month.

Internet Business Insurance

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