Coalition, a cyber insurance company for small and midsize businesses, is broadening its coverage for General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) violations.

In a statement, the company said that it is the “first to offer full-spectrum coverage to help businesses comply with regulations, protect against alleged violations, and pay resulting expenses and penalties.”

“GDPR is complex and violations can arise even when there has been no breach of protected information. Companies can be fined simply for failing to comply with the terms of their own privacy policy. Many cyber insurance policies miss this exposure,” said Joshua Motta, co-founder and chief executive office of Coalition. “Coalition's policy will now not only respond with broad coverage for any resulting costs and liability, including GDPR violations, resulting from a security failure or data breach, but also protect organizations against their failure to comply with broader GDPR enforcement actions.”

Coalition said that businesses are estimated to spend over $40 billion this year on efforts to comply with privacy and cybersecurity regulations, including GDPR. Failure to comply with GDPR can be a costly proposition: penalties may be assessed at four percent of an organization's annual global revenue or 20 million euros, whichever is higher.

“Non-compliance with GDPR can cost a small or midsize business its livelihood. Our expanded GDPR offering, available with all Coalition cyber insurance policies, is designed to educate organizations on their obligations, assist with compliance, and ultimately provide financial protection from alleged violations,” noted Mr. Motta.