As a business owner that wants to make sure you’re covered, you have a lot to worry about without trying to figure it all out.  Most businesses generally ask for the same coverages.  For buildings, they ask for commercial property insurance.  For automobiles, most people ask for commercial auto or some type of trucking insurance.  As a business owner, have you ever considered whether your website operations are insurable?  Better yet, have looked for “Website Insurance” and had a difficult time finding coverage?

With the improvements and advances in technology, your company’s website could be considered one of your most valuable assets.  Surprisingly enough, most businesses don’t even ask about their websites.   What if your small consulting firm or ecommerce store was suddenly hacked?  Does your commercial insurance policy cover a DOS attack? What if a problem with your hosting company causes an outage?  A long term outage could spell doom for your business reputation and livelihood.  What can you do to cover yourself in case of a website outage?  Is there a such thing as a website insurance policy?

In January 2012, the group, Anonymous, successfully took down the websites of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).  While  these organizations have large enough backings to quickly recover from a Denial of Service Attack, would you?  Luckily, you can update your commercial insurance policy to provide protection, just in case.

To combat this new problem, insurance carriers offer an “Electronic Vandalism” endorsement that provides additional protection coverage gaps caused by today’s new digital world.  This coverage endorsement applies only when your policy has business income and extra expense coverage.  So if you only have general liability, you’re out of luck.  If your policy covers more than liability then your business may be able get coverage that provides coverage for the following:

“Actual loss of Business Income and reasonable and necessary Extra Expense you sustain due to the necessary interruption of your internet business operations caused by direct physcial loss or physical damage by a covered cause of loss to property that you depend on for ‘website and internet services.”

While this endorsement (or additional coverage) is not  a true website insurance policy and is subject to limitations of the policy; adding the Electronic Vandalism coverage to your business policy will also provide protection for Denial of Service, Website Vandalism, and Good Faith Advertising Expense.  That way, if your site is taken down due to a covered loss, your business has money to get the site running again.  As with any coverage, this coverage is subject to the limitations of the policy.  As I always advise my clients, after a loss is the wrong time to find out that you coverage needs improving.  So, next time you’re reviewing your business owners insurance policy, if depend on your website to generate traffic, you might inquire about Electronic Vandalim coverage.