"I just finished raising my seed round and a mentor advised me to look into cyber insurance before it’s “too late.” What does this mean exactly? And do I actually need it?" -Kay

This is a great question. Our team has anecdotal experience but we wanted to get an expert opinion. So we reached out to the founders at eSpecialty, a digital insurance agency for small businesses, to give you real advice on what to do to protect yourself.

Imagine a SaaS company gets hacked. Their technology was breached and the hackers held them hostage for a fee. And even if this SaaS company had the ransom money, attacks like these can still shut down their operations for several days. Or even expose all the personal info of their employees and customers. 

You might think this would never happen to your startup. But these attacks are very real and more common than you might think. This is where cyber insurance would have come in handy–protecting the SaaS company from financial losses and liabilities when the unexpected happens. 

So invest time to beef up your security. eSpecialty gave us six practical tips on things you can do to protect your business. 

1. Maintain an Inventory
2. Install Security Patching ASAP
3. Leverage Email Filters
4. Configure User Permissions
5. Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
6. Stay Informed

However the care you need really depends on your business type. If you’re handling a lot of sensitive data or your business is growing fast, having cyber insurance will give you an extra layer of protection and ultimately, peace of mind. 

If you’re not sure where to start, eSpecialty can give you their expert recommendations and a list of quotes for you to explore. See how you can protect your startup here.