The ALS Group Risk Management Articles

Cyber threats are a hot topic now and seem to be on news coverage everyday, but what does that mean for your business? These cyber threats may not seem serious (for YOUR company) until they directly affect your business, and if they do, you will realize very quickly how much damage these attacks can cause. If your business uses computers or the internet in any capacity you’re vulnerable to cyber attacks. While the use of technology in the work place continues to rise along with productivity, so does the number of access points for hackers.

Earlier this year I wrote about the movement toward companies adopting a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. Many times this is driven by the effort to reduce costs to the company. There are, however, many pitfalls to this strategy if the framework supporting the BYOD policy is not well thought out. The February edition of RIMS magazine captures these risks and issues quite effectively. While smart phones are the obvious subject of this, we can’t forget the myriad of other communication devices (tablets) that these risks can apply to.

Employers today are constantly being faced with choices and the challenges those choices play. One of the more recent challenges is whether to allow employees to use their own smart phones to support the corporate email and functionality. On the surface, this seems like a great idea for employers as it will lower operating costs. Not so fast…According to a PWC survey “less than half of the 9300 C-suite executives surveyed have a security strategy to address personal devices in the workplace, despite the fact that 88% of employees use a mobile device for personal and work purposes”

With the lack of policy standardization and various exposures within the cyber insurance world, purchasing a cyber policy can be challenging.  The first step in this process is to understand the risks your company is facing in the event of a breach, as well as your organization’s Total Cost of Risk (TCoR). After all, risk mitigation is more than just purchasing appropriate insurance.

The beginning of October marks the start of the ninth annual National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) – is your company prepared in the event of a disruptive computer virus, a damaging loss of data or an unexpected intrusion by computer hackers? As organizations increasingly incorporate the use of laptops, smartphones and tablet devices into the success of their businesses, the potential dangers of cyber risk become much more prevalent.

One of the most talked about risks today is a data breach which can and will cause havoc in any organization. Most mid-size companies have not taken this risk seriously despite almost daily news about the effects of cyber risk. The recent article in the February 2012 issue of CFO magazine notes it is happening more frequently especially to mid-size companies, and should serve as a clear warning to a company’s senior leadership – Get your “Cyber” House in Order!

As the holiday shopping season began last week, Cyber Monday became the heaviest day of online shopping ever. Cyber Monday is just one example of the increased online presence of businesses and individuals alike, and with so much information being transmitted and stored online comes the increased risk of a privacy breach. A recent article in Risk and Insurance gives a good illustration on how a company can be affected by a cyber breach and outlines where liability falls if and when a breach occurs. In general, any information stored electronically is at risk, regardless of the industry a company operates in and cyber attacks can seriously impact its day-to-day