Greg Williams, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Acrisure, joins Cheddar news to discuss how small business owners can manage cyber risk, and the importance of protecting against cyber attacks.

Opening Bell

How to Equip Small Businesses for Cyber Protection

today's edition of creating connections is powered by a TNT business, internet dedicated internet access that allows us to bring you the news. All right, well, as you know, we live in an increasingly digital world, small businesses must continue to adapt to the ever evolving cyber landscape to survive and thrive. So joining us to discuss is Greg, Williams actress, your co founder president. And Ceo, thank you so much for joining us. Greg. Thanks Shannon, very nice just to be with you today. So you got to talk to us because aquaculture serves serves as a risk adviser to millions of clients. So what kind of feedback have you heard from clients on cyber risks? Well, clients are very aware of the present and growing concern and and increasingly are reaching out and asking for help. And so for us as a risk advisor, we used to mitigate that risk that exposure through through an insurance policy. And uh and quickly realized that while an insurance policy mitigated financial risk, it didn't do anything to really prevent a bad cyber event from happening. And so increasingly, What we now focus on is really bringing a full suite of products and a full suite of protection to our clients with cyber security, cyber insurance. And if you will kind of a 360° security blanket, if you will, you know, there are some businesses out there like, oh, this doesn't concern me. It's only for the huge corporations, but can you put into perspective just how common are cyber threats to today's business environment. And what should some of those business leaders keep an eye out for? Well, the first of all the ransom attack occurs every 14 seconds and so and and cyber insurance claims are at an all time high, probably no surprise to anybody just given the environment what's going on and how prevalent all of that is. But if you think about the things that a business leader, whether it's a Ceo or Ceo, the things that they ought to be asking themselves as relates to cyber cyber security Is No. one Do you have adequate threat detection in place? And if you think about the way your systems are being probed by outside parties and the threat that that that means. And are you even aware of what that that probing looks like and that that detection looks like the threat detection needs to be in place. You need to have adequate backup and recovery in the event of a, of a bad cyber event taking place. And then finally you need a cyber insurance policy and so you need all three components. If you have any one of those components missing, you've got some real exposure and some real vulnerability. Well, I had no idea they happened so often. I mean that's even a more important reason why it's critical for small businesses to take cyber security and cyber protection seriously, but talk more to that and the need for small businesses to do it. Yeah, I think, you know, the view was the cybersecurity was, it was a big company problem. I think quickly evolved to the point where everyone recognizes it's not just a big company problem. It's a small company problem. It's an individual problem. If you look at for for for small businesses, the average annual cost of a cyber attack is over $2 million dollars in many ways it will be in a, in a claim or an insurance claim would be the biggest expense even over the cost of their their real estate. And so it's a big exposure and a big risk to small businesses. Number one secondly, I would tell you that there is there is absolutely a linkage between cyber insurance and cybersecurity. When I say that cyber insurance companies are increasingly evaluating and assessing how adequate your cybersecurity is, as far as what they'll do in terms of issuing in cyber insurance policy. And so increasingly, if you don't have cybersecurity and adequate cybersecurity protection plan in place, it's gonna be very difficult to get a cyber insurance policy. And again, for small business owners, those are the ones who are gonna get impacted. Those are the people that are gonna impact at the most. Okay, so how can businesses properly equipped themselves to be protected from cybersecurity threats and maybe some tips? What tips do you have for businesses to get started? Yeah, I would say for for us a risk assessment, a formal risk assessment would be what I would recommend you start with uh, you know, actress sure. As an example, we provide a free risk assessment for clients and it's really to understand how vulnerable are you. Uh, you know, lots of stories that that that I could share with you in terms of when you have a conversation with clients, whether it's the ceo or the C I. O. Usually the C I O indicating, look, we're good, we've got, you know, adequate protections in place. You know, risk assessments not needed. What we found predominantly what we found is when a risk assessments done a lot of exposure and a lot of vulnerabilities are identified. And then obviously at that point you go about setting and designing a security plan that covers those exposures and those vulnerabilities. And so it starts with a risk assessment and then ultimately leads to a plan designed around how you're vulnerable and making sure that those exposures are covered such important information. So what does the future of cybersecurity and the landscape look like to you? And how do you think it's going to evolve? Well, I would tell you, look, if you ask yourself, the question is uh, you know, the cyber risk likely to increase or debate. I think everyone would agree that cyber risk is only going to get in terms of the trend, it's only gonna get more dangerous, the world's only gonna become more dangerous. And so at the end of the day it is, you know, something that, and by the way the sophistication of the attacker's that's going to evolve and create more risk and exposure than we even know about today as well. And so I think with a more dangerous world that as far as the trend with no end in sight to that uh the sophistication of cyber security and the protections around the business is going to have to evolve as well. Increasingly what we're finding is that our clients and and others around us are looking for outside help. Uh they need it, it's not the kind of thing, they're focused on building a business, they're not focusing on how they protect their cybersecurity is part of the day to day um you know, emphasis of the business, but because of risk and exposures, we just talked about the $2 million of the average claim for a for a small business or the cost of a cyber attack, they have to evolve in terms of their own sophistication and get outside help to do that. Obviously inaccurate sir, there were doing a lot of that in terms of helping our clients mitigate that risk and that exposure. Well if they need help now they know who to call. Alright, thanks Greg Williams at Christchurch co founder president and ceo and by the way, a T and T. Businesses keeping your business connected with a T and T G five, fast, reliable, secure, visit a T and T dot com slash network services for more information.