Why do I need Cyber Liability Insurance since I have general liability coverage for my web site activity?

A healthcare provider in Florida has significant exposure to data breaches and cannot rely on his general liability policy to protect him. The reason: exclusions in the policy for injury “arising out of the infringement of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights”. Also in the policy is an exclusion under the “Personal and advertising injury” section for injury arising out of an electronic chat room or bulletin board of the insured hosts, owns, or over which the insured exercises control.” This would exclude social networking and blogging.

In Florida, a cyber liability policy is meant to fill in the gaps created by these exclusions. Coverage on a Florida cyber liability policy is provided for “libel, slander, infringement of copyright, domain name, trademark, trade name, trade dress, logo, title, metatag, slogan, service mark or service name when arising from Web site activity, including social networking and blogging.”

So, a doctor cannot rely on the personal and advertising injury coverage section of this general liability policy to protect him from data breaches. He needs to purchase a cyber liability policy.

John Gracey Backer, CPA
John Gracey Backer, CPA

John Gracey Backer, CPA, is the Treasurer of Gracey-Backer, Inc., an Insurance Agency in Delray Beach, Florida specializing in All Lines of Malpractice, Professional and Personal Insurance for the Healthcare Provider. He can be contacted at (561) 404-5828, or at john@gbifl.com.

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