As more and more data breaches and ransomware attacks make headlines around the world, the need for digital asset protection has become top of mind for many financial advisors and business owners. In yesterday’s post, I outlined some cyber liability insurance basics, including what may and may not be covered if your RIA–broker/dealer has its own policy. Today, I’ll dig a bit deeper into the topic, including how you can assess your risks to determine what coverage you may need so you can choose the right cyber liability policy.

You protect your physical assets from an unforeseen event by purchasing health, life, car, property, traveler’s, and even pet insurance. But what about protecting your digital assets? In today’s world, a cybersecurity breach can devastate your business and harm your reputation, so safeguarding your office from this type of attack is essential.

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to information security. As a financial advisor, you aren’t expected to know everything about security, yet clients rely on you to protect them against the latest threats. How can you confidently reassure them that you’re keeping their information safe?

In 2016, I invested 2 U.S. cents in bitcoin. Two years later, bitcoin had increased in value by more than 34 times, and my investment was worth—get ready for it—68 U.S. cents.

For those who take their investments more seriously, achieving a 3,400-percent return may seem like a wild success story—yet it’s happened! (See Figure 1.)

I’ll take a wild guess: you didn’t become a financial advisor to remediate identity theft. But because this kind of fraud can drastically affect their finances, clients often look to you for guidance to help them keep their identities protected.

As news of the Equifax breach broke in September 2017, hundreds of Commonwealth advisors reached out to the firm’s Information Security team, asking how to help clients avoid identity theft. Because of Equifax’s poorly managed response, the situation seemed to change hourly; it became a challenge for us all to process the news, develop an appropriate response, and help clients take the right steps to secure their personal information.