143 Million People Potentially Affected in Equifax Data Breach

Equifax, one of the largest credit reporting agencies in the United States, was recently the victim of a massive cyber attack—an attack that may have compromised the personal information of 143 million people.

The breach itself occurred between mid-May and July 2017 when cyber criminals gained access to sensitive data by exploiting a weak point in website software. As a result of the attack, sensitive information like Social Security numbers, birthdays, addresses and driver’s license numbers were compromised. In addition, Equifax said 209,000 credit card numbers were stolen, including information from international customers in Canada and the United Kingdom.

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July 7, 2017 | By Eric P. Ferraris, CIC, CRM, CLTC, Chief Operating Officer of Tooher-Ferraris Insurance Group

Part of our firm’s signature assessment with each business we work with is to identify their exposure to loss to deliver risk management and insurance solutions.

Most business owners will proclaim, “We have a safety program!”. When diving deeper into the conversation, it becomes apparent that while they want a safe work environment for their employees and talk about being safe with their team, a formal written safety program is missing.

Having a formal written safety program that is constantly re-inforced is essential to a solid risk management strategy.

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By Oliver Suess | July 7, 2017 | Insurance Journal

Cyber crime insurers largely avoided costly claims from the recent attacks that hit business around the globe. The next global virus could change that.

“It’s exceptionally likely that we will see an event over the next months that will seriously affect insurers,” Graeme Newman, chief innovation officer at CFC Underwriting, said in an interview. “It would only need a combination of WannaCry’s wide reach and Petya’s destructive force to cost cyber insurers something like $2.5 billion, or a full year of gross premium income in the market.”

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Jun 29, 2017 | By Nir Kossovsky | http://www.propertycasualty360.com

The potential for damage from corporate reputational crises is greater than ever, with market cap, sales, margins and profits all in danger. But in today’s heated social media environment — in which the public and key stakeholder groups seem all too ready to personalize their criticism and affix blame on individuals — CEOs are now personally at great risk.

Professional risk managers — whatever their positions — need to understand that traditional executive liability solutions are ineffective for these new risks. They need to be able to advise company leadership on new tools available to deter attacks and to insulate their clients when attacks do occur.

Reputational risk evolution

In the past, companies had to worry only about the direct financial consequences of workplace accidents, lawsuits or investigations, officers and directors felt secure with traditional D&O policies, and brand executives were skilled at deploying the full spectrum of the marketing tactics.

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