SECURITY
Does a Smart Home Need Cyber Insurance? ID Theft Protection Can be More Affordable Than Consumers May Assume By Jay Basen
Photo: iStockphoto.com/ValeryBrozhinsky
Cyber insurance is a necessity for businesses, but what about homes? TechTarget defines a data breach as “a confirmed incident in which sensitive, confidential, or otherwise protected data has been accessed and/or disclosed in an unauthorized fashion. Data breaches may involve personal health information, personally identifiable information, trade secrets, or intellectual property.” The number of data breaches in businesses has grown from 157 in 2005 to 1,473 in 2019,
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Residential Tech Today | Winter 2021
according to Statista. While the cyber risks to homeowners have some similarities to those of businesses, there are additional risks that are unique to them. For instance:
• Cyberbullying. Online harassment could
• Cyber Breach. The loss of personal information. According to new research from Parks Associates, 5% of U.S. broadband households annually experience identity theft, which equates to 5.5 million households affected and at least 6.6 million people.
running a small business that you operate from
• Cyber Extortion. The threat to publicly release personal information
occur in a business, school, or personal situation • Cyber Disruption. Cyberattacks that keep you from accessing your home or possibly from your home • Cyber Financial Loss. The loss of funds in personal accounts due to a cyberattack • Ransomware. The restriction to a person’s personal data typically through the encryption of their data on computers within their home
