We manage more than a quarter billion dollars of premiums for a diverse range of clients around the globe.
I recently attended the Enterprise Risk Management Roundtable Summit in North Carolina held by NC State University that included representatives from Harley Davidson and Caterpillar among the speakers. This summit helped me gain insight into the emerging importance of a comprehensive risk management program and different strategies the companies have implemented.
Nearly every industry and data type is at risk for data breach. The 2013 Trustwave Global Security Report is out with some disquieting findings. Some of the top data-related tactical threats facing companies in 2012 were:
When evaluating your company’s risks, one concept that is frequently overlooked is the idea of how human error could impact your organization. Until recently, there has been very little written on this subject. However, in the recent issue of the RIMS Risk Management Magazine, an article by Tony Kern and David McKay touched on this point and successfully demonstrated how human error is one risk that companies must continually monitor.
What is your business doing to protect itself from the cyber liability threats it faces? Hackers see small businesses as cash cows and the number of cyber breaches has grown exponentially in recent years. Smaller to midsize businesses have become the quick and easy target for cyber criminals because of easy access and high payout. As a business owner, you must evaluate your risks and have mitigation strategies in place.
The face of the American workforce is changing. Today’s organizations include many employees who work almost solely from home. Many of today’s managers agree that virtual work saves organizations money and, actually, increases productivity. However, home-based employees create new risks for employers.
So, I changed the famous line a bit so we can all remember that changing to a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy needs to be a well thought out plan for organization of any size. There are a myriad of risks that must to be addressed, not the least of which is cyber risks from downloading a malicious malware program disguised as a “cool application”
Imagine a hacker infiltrated your website; the names, contact information, credit cards and social security information of every customer (and/or employee) are now being sold on the cyber-crime black market. Your website is no longer accessible, your overall reputation is tarnished and your company may possibly never recover. This has been the reality for many businesses. The “risk mitigation” steps to avoid these events are where the focus really needs to be placed. Buying insurance, while nice, will not insulate the Company from all the “nasty” things that will likely occur from a data or privacy breach.
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.
To continue the discussion of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and its role within the business world The ALS Group held its second ERM meeting to discuss recent articles that show the influence of ERM today in business. One periodical that often speaks of ERM is Rough Notes. This week’s discussion revolved around The Institutes update of the ARM course curriculum to include ERM into its material; see here for the article written by Michael Moody.
When American International Group (AIG) conducted a research survey of 323 risk managers, IT decision-makers, C-suite executives and brokers in the insurance industry in some capacity, they may have enlightened their audience even more than anticipated. The article states that 85% of all corporate executives polled (258) were “very or somewhat concerned” about the impact of cyber risks on their company. Executives are more concerned with cyber liability risks than any other risk, including income loss, which clearly demonstrates the importance of cyber liability coverage.
