Products + Services

35.7 million. That was the estimated number of personal records compromised by data breaches in the US last year – and that number is only expected to grow. What’s worse, nearly 40% of those breaches occurred at merchants – and, by Visa’s evaluation, small businesses are the most likely target of hackers.

Axia has recently partnered with Royal Group Services (RGS) to provide a comprehensive solution for each of our merchants: Data Breach Insurance. Although often over-looked, data breaches at the merchant level are becoming a significant threat for most small businesses.

Despite your best efforts, if a data breach were to happen at your business you could anticipate costs relating to the breach in excess of $25,000 to $50,000 or more ~ costs that could shut down many small businesses. Those costs include:

• Mandatory forensic exams ~ data estimates forensic exams to average $12,500 per exam
• Card replacement costs ~ between $3 and $10 per card
• Compliance fines ~ $5,000 to $50,000 or more depending on the size of the business and the nature of the offense that led to the breach
• Fines based on the actual fraud use of the cards ~ costs widely vary based on the number of cards exposed

What does RGS data breach insurance cover?

• The mandatory forensic audit required by PCI DSS when a data breach is suspected ~ this audit serves to confirm whether an actual breach occurred and pinpoints where your systems are most vulnerable
• Credit card replacement costs and related expenses
• Assessments and fines levied by card sponsors for data breaches
• Data breaches caused by employee dishonesty and/or the physical theft of data, as well as computer hacking.

Other important items to know about this valuable insurance policy:

• RGS is an “A” rated insurer
• No annual policy aggregate
• $0 deductible
• No co-pay
• No merchant-specific underwriting requirements
• Provides $100,000/year for each merchant ID and up to $500,000 for any one merchant per year
• “Discovery Made” policy – you need only be covered under this policy at the time Axia is notified of the breach, not when the breach necessarily occurred.

In order to ensure the absolute lowest costs for our clients, we have signed your business up for data breach insurance. As a courtesy Axia has paid for your first month, November 2010, after which you will be billed towards the end of each month at a cost of only $6.95 per month. If you decide you do not want this valuable insurance product for your business you can cancel this program. After careful consideration, if you choose to be directly responsible for the unexpected and costly losses of a data breach click here.