If the past few years have shown us anything, it’s that businesses are far more resilient to physical disruption than we once thought. Offices closed, commutes stopped, and whole industries shifted overnight, but still work continued. Laptops, cloud tools and remote access kept thousands of organisations moving through what turned out to be a prolonged, global, shutdown. Fire and floods haven’t stopped happening, but the way we all work has changed. The pandemic proved most businesses can operate remotely, yet it also left us increasingly exposed to our reliance on technology. As a result, today, the biggest business‑stopping events aren’t physical. They’re cyber related.
That same resilience has created a far more dangerous dependency. Modern infrastructure (cloud platforms, remote desktops, mobile apps, shared drives) have given us incredible flexibility, but they have also increased the number of potential vulnerabilities that can be exploited by a bad actor, often in ways traditional business interruption cover simply wasn’t designed for.
Many of us suffer micro cyber events throughout the year. A forgotten password, a missed update that grinds your computer to a stop, or some software that isn’t quite working as it should, leading to the inevitable (and often sheepish) call to the IT help desk… but only ever after you’ve ‘turned it off and on again’ of course!
Think of those lost hours. Now think about a cyber event across your entire business. If your systems are locked, infected, wiped or held to ransom, the whole business stops immediately, no matter where your staff are based. When your business relies on digital systems, the thing most likely to take you offline isn’t a fire or a burst pipe, it’s a cyber event, and it can shut your business down far more effectively than a fire ever could.
Your income depends on being able to log in, process payroll, communicate with clients, handle compliance tasks, and most importantly, your reputation. This is why business interruption under a cyber policy has become one of the most relevant protections for modern businesses — especially those in fast‑moving, regulation‑heavy sectors like umbrella and payroll. It covers loss of income, forensic IT recovery, data restoration, and the real‑world cost of being forced offline. It’s designed for the risks of the world we actually operate in, not the world we used to.
Put simply:
In the 20th century, BI claims started with smoke.
In the 21st, they start with a password prompt you can’t get past.
Caunce O’Hara Insurance Brokers Limited (COHIBL) has been at the forefront of umbrella and payroll insurance for more than two decades. As the first broker to design a dedicated umbrella insurance policy back in 2000, COHIBL continues to lead the market with refined, sector‑specific cover built for today’s regulatory and operational challenges. Our offering includes a wide‑ranging suite of protections under one streamlined policy, backed by in‑house claims support and full underwriting authority — enabling COHIBL to assess risks accurately and adapt cover as your business, or the risk landscape in the case of cyber risks, evolves.
Speak to our dedicated team or visit www.cohibl.com
