We manage more than a quarter billion dollars of premiums for a diverse range of clients around the globe.
The non-core activities of your firm can get in the way of serving your customers. Third parties, including outsourcers, can provide some relief from that distraction, but the administrative load does not completely dissolve. Some smart monitoring and evaluation will go a long way toward protecting your firm’s interests.
The U.S. Department of Justice stated that “More than 4,000 ransomware attacks have occurred daily since January 1, 2016. This is a 300 percent increase over the approximately 1,000 attacks per day seen in 2015.” Essentially, no particular user, company or business sector is safe. Although the Healthcare and Retail industries are targeted for their volume and value of data, home computers may also fall victim to ransomware.
I’ve headed off on vacation with my wife and kid in sunny Florida, but didn’t want to miss posting something useful for Cyber Tuesday. Having been preaching the “dos” and “don’ts” of data security for businesses, I had to make sure my own mobile devices were secured while on the move. My wife will probably disagree, but, in my opinion securing your data (both personal and professional) while on the go is just as, if not more important than making sure you packed your toothbrush and sunscreen.
A case in point is the super sleek and very expensive Millennium Towers building in San Francisco. According to reports from independent consultants, the 58 story building has sunk about 16 inches and tilts about two inches to the Northwest. Settling is a natural process in any construction project and architects and engineers build that into their model; however, 16 inches since 2008 is a cause for concern. And, the sinking isn’t over. According to the August 9th article in Curbed San Francisco, the building is predicted to drop an additional eight to 15 inches into the ground.
Between company logins, online banking, personal email accounts, and various social media accounts the average user is required to come up with a lot of passwords. Unfortunately, many use the same password for all of their logins, simply for the sake of convenience. This poses a huge security risk, as once any one of those services is hacked and the user’s password becomes compromised, all of the other accounts are in jeopardy.
Have you protected your worksite from Rattata yet? How about Pidgey or Staryu? Who? They’re just a few characters from Pokémon Go, the augmented reality game craze that’s got people showing up at PokéStops in all sorts of random places, hoping to track down Pokémon characters on their mobile devices. With more than 30 million users (more than 20 million registered users in the US alone), the game takes players out into real world locations, including retail stores, office buildings, train stations and even construction sites.
Cisco has released the 2016 Midyear Cybersecurity Report and their findings point to future, more sophisticated types of ransomware that will take full advantage of systems with less than satisfactory security measures, patching practices, and detection rates.
The Pokemon Go phenomena is real. Players of the mobile device augmented reality “scavenger hunt” app are out on the streets in droves hunting down Pikachu, Psyduck, Bulbasaur, Charmander and other elusive Nintendo based cartoon characters. Chances are you or someone you know is playing the game…don’t lie, you’re playing it aren’t you? The mobile game developed by Nintendo partner Niantic has caused Nintendo’s stock to jump 36% adding $7 billion to its market cap.
Are you addicted to your mobile device? Most of us are. Everything is a tap or swipe away. You can check account balances, pay bills, order from online stores, deal with business email and documents, etc… Essentially, mobile devices allow you to manage your life untethered. Hackers realize that too and are targeting mobile devices more than ever.
In several of my most recent “Cyber Tuesday” posts, I’ve discussed the importance of developing a comprehensive cyber risk mitigation strategy which includes IT security measures, well thought out incident response, business continuity documentation and cyber insurance. A recent ransomware event at the University of Calgary shifted the focus to the cyber insurance.
