InsideOutdoor | WINTER 2022 18 By Brady Hicks You’ve got your outdoor retail business. Years of passion and planning have finally paid off, and the physical – and potentially cyber – doors are now open. Your success depends not only on your ability to offer products that meet customer expectations but to connect with that same base, keep their info safe and protect your assets. Similar to how you should lock up your storefront at night, today’s retailer needs to take all necessary steps to keep critical data secure against intruders. “Cyber liability has become a real thing,” said Rob Martin, managing director, Outdoor Sports Insurance (OSI), a Horizon Agency program that works with 2,500 shops countrywide. “In the last two years, it’s exploded. From a claims standpoint, coverage is getting more expensive because the carriers that provide it are losing money based on claims activity, frequency and severity. We’ve had many instances [of breaches] over the past year, to the point that it’s becoming more common than traditional insurance losses such as fires, thefts, collapse or any of those things.” To maintain affordable coverage, he added, “you’re better off the more buttoned up you are.” Ironically, most small businesses have fewer resources to protect their assets than their larger competitors, even though the risk they face is potentially more devastating. “As of Q2 2021, 75 percent of ransomware attacks targeted businesses with less than 1,000 [employees],” Cyberattacks becoming retailers’ biggest threat, says OSI TECH SAVVY Practices to Protect Your Store
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