Is cyber insurance becoming a modern day necessity?

Hospitals in southern Ontario are just the latest example of how a cyberattack can have a devastating impact.

“3,000 employees. We're a billion dollar organization. There are lots of different systems that are mission critical, like the water system as an example, that we have to make sure we're employing the latest, greatest technology and make sure we're reducing the threats,” said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens.

He sits on various boards and says cyber security is one of the most discussed issues. The city dedicates resources to educate employees.

“It's a 24/7 exercise. We certainly are dedicating a fair amount of resource to our IT infrastructure because it is so important to city operations on a daily basis,” Dilkens said.

There is a cost to ensuring a system is not hacked.

“The cost of cyber insurance right now in Kingsville went up by $20,000 dollars from 2020 to 2022,” said Kimberly DeYong, deputy mayor of Kingsville.

It’s a cost many municipalities are building into their budgets.

“If you would have asked me five years ago, ‘Do you need cyber security?’ I would have said, ‘No,’” said Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy. “’Save the money.’ But now we're realizing more than ever this is an important part of an insurance package for municipalities.”

Even small businesses like Brady's Drug Store are making that investment.

“If something were to happen, we'd have to contact every single person who's data's been breached. We have to tell them,” said owner Tim Brady. “Sometimes you actually have to pay for them to make sure that their information doesn't show up on the black web.”

Not all businesses invest in cyber security.

“We are in a digital world so we have to accept it and we have to look at the people we're dealing with and the companies and ask more questions,” warned Frank Abbruzzese, president of AlphaKor. “What do you have in place? What security measures do you have in place? How's my data being protected?”