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Montana School District Ups Cyberinsurance Coverage After Nearby Data Breach

The district wanted to make sure it had enough coverage to handle costs in case of a breach.

(TNS) — A data breach at a neighboring school district hit close enough to home that Kalispell Public Schools decided to up its cyberinsurance coverage.

Kalispell Public Schools increased its cybercoverage from $250,000 to $1 million. The increased coverage will cost $8,859 annually and is paid out of the general fund. This is an increase from the $1,000 cost of the previous premium.

"It's additional coverage for cyberfailures of a variety of ways our technology could be compromised," said Director of Business Services Gwyn Andersen during a school board meeting Tuesday.

The district's deductible on the policy is $15,000 for each claim or event.

In November, Bigfork School District's computer network was compromised by malicious software, where some student information and staff Social Security numbers were affected and as a precautionary measure personnel were given the option to sign up for free identity protection services.

Andersen said providing free identity protection or credit reporting services is often the biggest cost when employee data is compromised. If Kalispell Public Schools had to provide two years of free credit reporting services to all employees whose information was compromised, it could cost in the vicinity of $600,000 to $750,000.

©2016 the Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, Mont.), distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.