Any professional activity is subject to risks that hover both over the providers of services or various works, as well as over their clients. Professional civil liability involves assuming the remediation of potential damages caused to third parties in the course of an activity, whether they are directly involved or collateral, due to errors that may occur with or without the professionals’ will.

Thus, in order to reduce the negative impact of possible unforeseen events and, above all, to reduce or completely cover the damages that may result from the fault of professionals in a certain field, insurance products appeared, as a logical market need professional civil liability. An important chapter of these types of insurance is related to professional IT insurance – a field that has been developing more and more recently and has solid growth prospects in economies everywhere. Moreover, insurance for IT professionals has become useful and sometimes necessary for companies doing business in this dynamic field.

That is why this article will reveal some important aspects of professional liability insurance in IT, especially in terms of the events covered and the benefits that such insurance can bring to companies and professionals engaged in this field of activity.

1. IT insurance – what does this type of professional liability insurance entail?

The activity of a professional in the field of IT&C is very much in demand today, both from the point of view of the permanent need for specialists that the companies in this activity sector need, as well as in terms of the number of projects, which are increasingly numerous, as time passes , at a global level, towards the ever-increasing digitization of companies and their current activities.

Thus, specialists (technicians, programmers, etc.) who work in the IT field are increasingly facing risks inherent in this business sector. One might think, at a cursory glance, that IT professionals have no risks to face in an office-based activity or conducted entirely on laptops and computers from anywhere in the world. However, the risks of programmers and other professionals in the IT field are somewhat similar to the risks faced by specialists in other fields of activity that are more “visible” or more “tangible” than the field of information technology.

These risks appear especially in the IT fields where specialized consulting and software creation are also offered which are involved in the proper functioning of a business from a legal point of view. Thus, an IT specialist or even an IT consulting and software production company can make a mistake in the design or creation of the architecture of an important computer program for carrying out in optimal conditions the operations of a client company (for example, a design mistake in the invoicing software or management that may have significant legal repercussions for the company that used that software or serious financial losses due to lack of proper inventory and supply records).

Obviously, upon discovery of the error, the client company can turn against the IT specialist or the software company employed to recover the damage created and engage their fault.

This is precisely where a professional IT insurance comes to protect IT professionals and companies from such syncopes or human errors, otherwise , inherent in any activity. Thus, the role of this type of professional liability insurance is twofold: on the one hand, it covers IT specialists from the point of view of occupational risks. whether they are natural persons or legal persons, and on the other hand, it comes to quickly cover the damages that their errors have caused to third parties or customers who have suffered damage due to errors, mistakes, omissions or human negligence specific to the domain .

Of course, becoming an IT expert requires specific skills, skill, the accumulation of an enormous amount of information and knowledge, whether on the hardware side (as is the case, for example, in the installation and maintenance of complex IT networks) , either on the side of creating the architecture and developing the various programs on the basis of which the current activities of a company are carried out. However, rich experience, top professionalism and in-depth knowledge in any of the IT fields do not exempt professionals and the companies they work in from the possibility that at some point something will go wrong, an error will creep into the work process, and the final product or the service provided to produce damage to those to whom it is dedicated.

As an IT professional, your clients rely on your expertise to design, build and operate the technology systems that underpin their business. Work in IT has a high degree of complexity, and any error can lead to significant damages that can often mean legal actions against specialists or IT companies that will see the materialization of the risk of paying exorbitant compensations out of their own pockets.

Without the protection belt that a professional liability insurance in IT offers in the activity of a company, a freelancer or even a professional employee in this field is constantly under a financial threat that can even endanger the professional future of the listed entities.

2. IT professional liability insurance – events and areas covered

The range of events and areas covered by professional IT insurance is diverse, as are the errors, omissions and types of negligence that can occur in this dynamic field of activity. In addition to the events specific to the IT field, inherently related to what can go wrong in the hardware or software branches, professional IT insurance covers, as you will see in the following lines, a series of goods and situations incidental to the IT activity and personnel.

• Covering damages related to cyber attacks

With the sharp development of economic activities and transactions of any type towards the online environment, we can already see a proportional increase in cyber attacks through which malicious people try to gain access to sensitive data that they can later capitalize on through various methods. A classic example of a cyber-attack risk that can easily be protected by taking out professional IT insurance is the breach of customer databases and the leakage of personal identity and financial information. This event can backfire against the IT company that owns the servers that operated this data, or against those who designed and implemented the protection architecture of those IT systems.

Another example, of a somewhat more trivial nature, is when an employee of an IT company forgets to secure access to the computer on which customer data is stored, and some people can extract this data and use it for unauthorized purposes. In the same way, IT professional liability insurance also operates in this case, protecting the person whose negligence caused the information leak, but also the company he works for from the damages claimed by those affected by the event.

• Coverage for damages caused by human errors, omissions or various mistakes in IT activity

Professional IT insurance is aimed at professionals, individuals, freelancers, but also companies that operate in the wider field of IT, a field that can include a series of roles such as:

• Online and cyber security specialists;
• Hardware experts;
• IT consultants;
• Database administrators;
• Project managers in IT;
• Back-end programmers;
• Front-end developers and website and app builders;
• Operating system designers;
• Software developers.

In any of these work scenarios there can be slips or mistakes, whether it is mistakes in programming, design, implementation of appropriate cyber security IT solutions or errors of judgment and wrong advice and guidance where consulting is involved IT. Customers who are harmed by these errors or omissions can seek damages from IT officials, which can be financially appreciable. With the coverage provided by a professional IT insurance, the risk that the business of the company or the career of the IT specialists will be seriously affected is practically eliminated.

• Covering damage or destruction of buildings or IT infrastructure and electronic equipment

IT insurance covers not only people engaged in this field of activity. By extension, this type of insurance can also protect buildings and the IT equipment housed within them. For example, a company that hosts servers and delivers hosting services for websites or specialized applications to thousands of customers may face a negative event ranging from fires, earthquakes or floods, or certain cases of vandalism, or burglary that can lead to the destruction or theft of the IT equipment that was the basis of the business, and which, in most cases, are very expensive.

At the same time, the IT infrastructure (equipment, terminals, servers, etc.) can be protected by means of these insurances against misuse by employees or damages that may occur through negligence. The damage thus caused to the infrastructure has negative effects both on the owning company and on the customers that the said infrastructure served.

• Covering IT employee medical costs

IT insurance can also look at collateral aspects of the activity in this field. Thus, for key employees in the field, some companies can conclude IT insurance of a medical nature for the prevention or treatment of various ailments or for the performance of various medical checks. It is, if you like, a product with a double role, both to prevent the unavailability of an employee for medical reasons, and to motivate, reward or maintain loyalty towards the company.

• Risk coverage for cars in IT-related exploitation

Even cars used for the much-needed mobility of the IT field can be covered by IT insurance. Thus, companies and IT professionals can opt for products and services from the RCA or CASCO sphere taking into account the situations that must be insured and the risks that may arise.

3. Insurance for IT professionals – the main benefits and ways to access and contract

IT insurance offers a number of advantages to professionals or companies operating in this field of activity.

• Predictability of current activity and future development

One of the biggest advantages of taking out a professional IT insurance is the sense of security it offers to the company and IT professionals. Knowing that the activity, career and assets of any nature involved in the activity are insured against worst-case scenarios that may arise at any given time, regardless of the causes, IT company managers and IT professionals alike can focus more on specific work, on the development and implementation of strategies for the growth of operations. Thus, there will be no major syncopes during the development of the projects, the necessary financial flows will not be interrupted or cancelled, and the company or the IT freelancers will manage to overcome the risks inherent in the field even in the event of the production of the insured events.

• Complete protection in the event of an event with potentially serious repercussions

In the event of an insured event, professional IT insurance guarantees you that the insurer will cover the expenses stipulated in the insurance contract produced as a result of production of the event. These expenses can significantly burden the individual budgets of IT freelancers or profile companies and can include: legal expenses with lawsuits filed by injured customers, administrative fees, legal damages awarded by the courts or on the understanding of the parties, etc.

Therefore, IT insurances are essential elements to consider in the case of carrying out an activity in the IT sphere because it ensures the smooth operation of ongoing projects and the financial satisfaction of all actors involved in commercial or administrative relations typical of IT activities.

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