Insurance Against Data Loss? Can You Get It?

Sallie Goetsch who among other things operates the FileSlinger(TM) Backup Blog wrote to us about some of our recent podcast comments on data loss insurance and backups:

"I've recently started listening to your podcast. It's great to hear something targeted at my own client base, the small and home office user. I write a weekly e-zine/blog about backing up your computer, so I was naturally intrigued when you talked about insurance companies requiring appropriate security hardware and backup systems before they would cover data loss. I asked a colleague who does risk management consulting about this, and he said that most ordinary business, liability, and Errors & Omissions (E&O) policies won't cover data loss at all, and what a person would need is special media insurance. I've done some preliminary research on that topic, but given Howard's very emphatic statements, I thought I should ask for the source of your information."

Your (risk management) colleague is absolutely correct Sallie — in California and New York. Underwriters have simply been loaded with too many claimed losses in those two states. Elsewhere in the U.S. however, media insurance equates with data loss coverage in many instances. There are many variants. More . . .