The recent exclusion of certain technology risks by many commercial insurers has created a coverage gap that urgently needs to be addressed, Safeonline is warning customers.
Safeonline digital risk insurance specialist Stuart McMillan explained: "Every time one of your employees sends an email, your company could face financial ruin.
"Why? Because many standard commercial insurance policies now contain exclusions that explicitly invalidate coverage for risks in relation to the use of technology, leaving thousands, if not millions, of pounds worth of companies' data and intellectual property exposed."
The problem is that new policy wordings exclude damage to electronically held data, including that on the company website, on the basis that it is not tangible property.
McMillan advised: "Senior managers have a duty to ensure that they understand the financial as well as the compliance impact of having lost coverage under their existing insurance and should make sure they have fully evaluated their risk management options."
A new product being launched by SafeOnline, called SafeBusiness, is intended to partly will this gap in cover.
It will "provide a much needed in-fill for small to medium firms who use basic technologies and who are currently insured by one of the many larger providers who have now excluded technology-risks" claims the company.