— Cyber insurance · Manitoba

The coverage your business did not need ten years ago.

Cyber claims are no longer a big-company problem. Small Manitoba businesses are now the easier target — and the recovery is often what closes the doors, not the attack itself.

See what we cover

20+Carriers compared on every file

7Days a week we are open, across three offices

3Languages — English, Hindi, Punjabi

— The plain version

What we are actually insuring against.

Three things happen most often: a staff member clicks a phishing email and the business email account is taken over; a ransomware attack encrypts your files and demands payment; or customer data is stolen and you become responsible for notifying everyone affected.

The dollar cost of any of these is not the ransom or the attack — it is the days of lost revenue, the regulatory fines, the legal fees, and the cost of getting your systems back online.

A padlock on a laptop, light trails passing in the background

Risks that did not exist a decade ago

— What it covers

Two halves of one policy.

— First-party (your losses)

When you are the victim.

Forensic investigation — Investigation and remediation costs.
Ransom payments — And professional negotiation services.
Data restoration — Recovery of files and system rebuilds.
Business interruption — Revenue lost while systems are down.
Cyber extortion — And reputational harm response.

— Third-party (claims against you)

When your customers come calling.

Customer notification — Required by privacy law in most provinces.
Credit monitoring — For affected customers.
Regulatory fines — Investigations and penalties, where insurable.
Legal defence — Privacy and data-breach lawsuits.

— Who needs it

If you store data, you need it.

If your business holds any of the following, cyber insurance is no longer optional in our view: customer names and contact details, credit card information, health information, employee records, financial records, or confidential client communications. That covers almost every Manitoba business operating today.

— The misconception

“Why would anyone target us?”

They are not targeting you. They are targeting whichever business clicks the email — and the smaller the business, the less likely it is to have proper IT controls. Most cyber attacks on small business are opportunistic, not personal.

— FAQ

Common questions about cyber liability insurance.

Does my small business in Manitoba really need cyber insurance?

If your business stores customer data, accepts electronic payments, runs payroll, or relies on email and cloud software — yes. Most Manitoba small business cyber claims we see are not sophisticated hacks; they are email compromises that re-route a payment, ransomware that encrypts a server, or a stolen laptop with unencrypted customer records. The average claim runs into tens of thousands of dollars in response and notification costs alone.

What does cyber insurance actually cover?

A modern cyber policy covers two sides: first-party costs (your costs after an incident — forensic investigation, data restoration, ransomware response, business interruption, regulatory fines, notification of affected individuals) and third-party costs (claims brought against you — by customers whose data was exposed, by partners whose systems were affected, or by regulators). The strongest policies also include access to a 24-hour incident response team that triages the breach.

Does cyber insurance cover ransomware payments in Canada?

Most Canadian cyber policies do cover ransom payments, subject to sanctions screening — payments to designated terrorist groups or sanctioned entities are excluded by law, not policy. What carriers expect in return is that you call the incident response team before paying, follow their negotiation process, and document the decision. Paying a ransom without the carrier's involvement can void the coverage.

What's the difference between cyber insurance and tech E&O?

Cyber liability responds to incidents involving data, networks and systems — breaches, ransomware, fraud. Technology Errors & Omissions responds to claims that your professional technology work failed — bad code, missed specifications, a software product that did not perform as promised. A Manitoba IT consultancy, SaaS company or MSP typically needs both, and we bundle them when the carrier writes a combined form.

What security controls do underwriters require to issue a cyber policy?

Underwriting tightened significantly after the 2020–2022 ransomware wave. Most carriers now require multi-factor authentication on email and remote access, regular offline or immutable backups, endpoint detection and response (EDR) on workstations, basic security awareness training for staff, and a documented response plan. We walk you through the questionnaire and tell you which gaps to close before applying — it usually saves more on premium than the controls cost to implement.

How much does cyber insurance cost for a Winnipeg small business?

A small business cyber policy in Manitoba — say, under $2 million in revenue with reasonable controls in place — often runs between $1,000 and $3,000 a year for $1 million of coverage. Healthcare, professional services and businesses with large customer-data sets pay more. We quote multiple carriers because the pricing range across the market on the same risk can easily be 2× to 3× — the cheapest policy is not always the right one if it carves out ransomware or sublimit-caps the incident response.

Will my CGL or business package cover a cyber breach?

Almost never. Most commercial general liability and business package policies sold in Manitoba either exclude cyber risks entirely or include a very low sub-limit (often $25,000 to $50,000) that won't begin to cover a real incident. Dedicated cyber coverage exists precisely because the CGL form was not built for it. Worth a five-minute conversation if you haven't reviewed your package recently.

Take 15 minutes to make sure you are covered.

Talk to a broker