By Robert Pizarro

In recent years, many of the biggest companies in the world have been victims of major data breaches. During that same time, thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses, including nonprofit organizations, have also had their data compromised. Whether your clients' organizations are large or small, it’s critical to make sure they are prepared for a data breach.

The Dark Web is not as mysterious as you might think. In fact, most of the sites that exist on the Dark Web are public sites that can be accessed by anyone, provided you know where to look. If your clients don’t secure their company’s data and a cyber crook hacks their system – valuable data could be sold to the highest bidder.

According to a recent report by Microsoft, there's been a 400 percent rise in ransomware encounters affecting Windows since 2015, with older versions of the operating system being more prone to infection. Large companies are often late adopters to new operating systems since they require extensive testing to ensure hardware compatibility, which leaves them prime targets for this form of malware.

Are you leaving agency and client data in unsafe waters where cyber criminals are known to phish?

Our claims service has improved, and customers have begun to notice.

"As  a result of our organic and acquisitive growth, we recognized that we needed to change the way we did business, says AmTrust’s Chief Claim Officer Darrel Price. So the company began making a concerted effort to get claims service to the industry-leading level it was in years past. 

It seems every day we learn about a new data breach, and the numbers keep getting bigger: 56 million records compromised in the Home Depot breach, 110 million at Target, and now 500 million at Yahoo, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Your small business clients will probably never face a breach of this magnitude, but even a few hundred compromised records can jeopardize credibility and cost the company thousands in damages.