We are not a tech company. Which do we need?

Standalone cyber for the breach exposure everyone has; E&O only if clients rely on your professional services. Most non-tech businesses need the first and know it less than the second.

Does cyber cover our own downtime?

First-party business interruption from a covered security event, yes — from your own non-malicious system failure, only if the form includes system-failure coverage. We check that grant specifically.

Ransomware payments — actually covered?

Extortion coverage funds negotiation and, where lawful, payment. Controls determine insurability and price more every year.

Yes — and for tech firms, one combined form is precisely the point.

Cyber Insurance vs. Tech E&O

	Cyber	Tech E&O
Trigger	Security failure, privacy event, extortion	Professional/technology service failure
First-party costs	Breach response, forensics, recovery, ransom negotiation	Generally none — it is a liability form
Third-party claims	People and businesses whose data or systems were harmed	Clients alleging your product or service failed
Typical claimant	Data subjects, regulators, business partners	Your customers
Who buys standalone	Any business holding data	Service firms whose failures are not security failures

Where the confusion comes from

The lines blur because tech incidents blur: a vulnerability in your product that leads to a client’s breach is simultaneously a product failure (E&O) and a security event (cyber). Two separate policies from two carriers invite each to point at the other.

Non-tech businesses read "cyber" as covering everything computer-related and discover too late that their operational software failure — no breach, just downtime they caused a client — was never a cyber event.

When you need both

For technology companies, the combined tech E&O/cyber form is the standard answer — one carrier, one trigger analysis, no finger-pointing. For everyone else, standalone cyber plus their industry E&O with the seam checked is the equivalent discipline. Explore D&O insurance, cyber liability, and fiduciary liability, or start with employment practices liability.

A claim that lands in the gap

Illustrative scenario

A SaaS provider’s flawed update corrupts client records — no attacker anywhere. The client’s seven-figure claim is pure E&O; a standalone cyber policy would never respond.

Illustrative scenario

The same provider’s stolen admin credential exposes three clients’ data. Breach response, client claims, and regulator inquiries — cyber territory the E&O side alone would not fund.

Scenarios are illustrative composites, not descriptions of actual claims or outcomes. Whether any claim is covered depends on the policy issued.

How to decide

Technology companies: combined tech E&O/cyber, one form, one carrier.
Everyone else: standalone cyber sized to your records, beside your industry E&O.
Check social-engineering and funds-transfer terms — the most-claimed and most-sublimited grants.
Contract requirements from clients often set the real limits; bring the contracts to quoting.

One application. Multiple A-rated carriers.

We market your account and you compare terms side by side — no obligation.

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Frequently asked questions

We are not a tech company. Which do we need?: Standalone cyber for the breach exposure everyone has; E&O only if clients rely on your professional services. Most non-tech businesses need the first and know it less than the second.
Does cyber cover our own downtime?: First-party business interruption from a covered security event, yes — from your own non-malicious system failure, only if the form includes system-failure coverage. We check that grant specifically.
Ransomware payments — actually covered?: Extortion coverage funds negotiation and, where lawful, payment. Controls determine insurability and price more every year.
One application?: Yes — and for tech firms, one combined form is precisely the point.

Provident Financial Group is an independent insurance agency, not a carrier. We place coverage for cyber insurance vs. tech e&o in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Texas, California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Indiana, Nevada, and Arizona.