The resource shelf.
Everything we write about Ontario tech risk, in one place - dated posts on the blog, long-form reference guides, the glossary, and the case files your underwriter is already pricing.
Latest from the blog
Why standard business insurance falls short for Ontario SaaS
A CGL and property package is built for a shop, not a platform. When a client blames your software for a loss, the policy that covers slip-and-fall will not answer. Here is the SaaS stack that does.
Tech startup insurance in Ontario: what you need, when, and what it costs
The complete Ontario map of tech startup insurance - the policies that matter, the triggers that force them, RIBO and PHIPA, and rough cost by stage.
Every tech startup insurance policy, ranked by when you need it
D&O at the term sheet, Tech E&O at first customer, Cyber the day you touch data - and the policies that come after. A trigger-by-trigger buying order.
Reference walkthroughs
How to read a tech-startup insurance quote
The declarations page is the easy part. This guide walks you through the definitions, sub-limits, and exclusions that decide whether the number on the front page is real.
Building your first coverage tower
From three core blocks to a stacked tower: how a venture-backed company sizes limits to its stage, chooses primary vs excess carriers, and the endorsements to insist on at each round.
The Ontario breach-response playbook
The first hour, the panel counsel, the regulator notification, and the customer message - what to do, in what order, when PHI or PII walks out the door.
Pre-IPO insurance due diligence
What underwriters ask in the year before a public listing, how a tower and DIC layer shift, Side-A for the public board, and the run-off (tail) cover that protects former directors for six years.
Risk notes, once a month.
One short note on Ontario tech risk - breaches, regulation, and what your policy should actually cover.
Look up a term
Recent breach examples
Tribunal holds airline liable for its own chatbot's lies.
In Moffatt v. Air Canada, the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal found the airline vicariously liable after its chatbot invented a bereavement-fare policy, rejecting the argument that 'the chatbot is its own entity.'
When the billing vendor got hit, its customers sued the startup.
A 40-person Toronto SaaS company discovered its billing vendor was a MOVEit-affected downstream victim; customer card data and contact lists required notification within days.
Regulator opens inquiry days after an onboarding glitch.
A Toronto fintech's automated KYC checks mis-routed high-risk clients; FINTRAC opened an examination and an institutional investor raised questions about compliance-management cost.
Read your quote without a translator.
Every insurance term a founder needs to actually read a quote - in plain English.
Directors & Officers liability - protects the personal assets of board and executives.
Professional liability for technology services - covers claims of software failure or negligence.
Covers breach response, ransomware, regulatory fines and data-related third-party claims.
Coverage that pays directors directly when the company cannot indemnify them.
Difference in Conditions - sits over the primary tower to fill exclusions and gaps.
Stacked layers of limits from primary to excess carriers.
A policy amendment that adds, restricts or modifies coverage.
Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act - governs health data.
Ontario's financial-services regulator - licenses insurers and brokers.
Federal private-sector privacy law - breach-notification obligations.
Canada's proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act - automated-decision liability.
The amount you self-insure before the policy responds (a deductible).
Covers content-related claims - copyright and trademark infringement, defamation and disparagement arising from content on your platform.
Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation - governs commercial electronic messages and consent; fines can be significant and are an insurable exposure under some cyber policies.