Cyber Insurance

If you receive an email that looks official, you need to examine it thoroughly before you click on any links or open any attachments. The first step is to call the company and verify the validity of the email, whether it is your bank, your insurance company or another organization you where you conduct business.

The IRS wants taxpayers to know that they do not contact taxpayers by email to request information. So, beware of emails with subject likes such as “Notice from the IRS” or “IRS taxpayer refund.” If you do click on a link within such an email and enter your personal taxpayer information, the cyber thief may gain access to your tax refund. The IRS asks that taxpayers forward these suspicious emails to phishing@irs.gov.

Not all phishing scams take place by email; some come in the form of phone scams. If a caller claims to be from an official organization and uses threats of immediate payment or arrest, the best advice is to hang up. You should never give out your personal information, including account numbers or social security numbers, over the telephone.

Another scam to be on the lookout for is “spear phishing.” This is a personalized message sent to you by an attacker to try and gain your personal banking ID, checking account number or other financial information. The email can look very official, but if you click on the link, you will be directed to a “spoofed” website and asked to enter personal information. The hacker can then install malware on your computer or access and steal your personal information.

How can you stay safe from phishing scams? Be careful of personal information you post on online profiles and social media sites. Potential attackers can use this information to hack into your accounts. Be smart when choosing passwords by selecting those that are not easily guessed and do not re-use previous passwords. Keep your anti-virus software up-to-date to detect malware on your computer. And remember to be vigilant when opening emails. An organization where you already have an account will not ask you for a username and password. We hope this information will prevent you from being a victim of phishing scams. Be safe!

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Sometimes you will know if your business has suffered a cyber-attack. For example, there could be a ransomware threat where you have to pay money to a cyber thief to get your files back. However, some types of cyber threats are better disguised and won’t be immediately obvious to the untrained eye. Subtle types of data breaches can be just as detrimental in the long-run, and business owners should keep a watchful eye.

Malware

Malware is a term that can refer to many types of cyber threats including malicious software downloads, spyware, browser hijacking, fake security software, viruses, adware, etc. If you visit a compromised website or download a program, malware can be installed on your computer and secretly steal personal information from you or your customers and relay it to third parties. Other damaging effects of malware include the broadcasting of spam email, using your computer to hijack other computer systems, erasing data from your hard drives, and more.

Signs that your computer may be infected with malware include sudden crashes, browser settings that can’t be changed, or new toolbars that you haven’t noticed before. Malware is becoming more sophisticated and more difficult for anti-malware software programs to detect.

Phishing

Phishing is an attempt to trick you into clicking on a link in an email, a text message, or a fake website in order to obtain money or have you download malware. While some emails are obviously phishing schemes (the Nigerian prince who left you his inheritance), others are not so obvious. Here are a few things to watch for in identifying a phishing email: mismatched URLs (hover over the typed URL and look at the hyperlink address), emails from government agencies (very few if any government agencies will contact you by email); an unexpected winning (you are not likely to win a lottery that you did not enter).

The Solution

Prevention is the best solution, but once a breach of data has occurred, the most important thing is to secure your data and prevent further breaches. Having a cyber liability policy in place will protect your business and provide you with a dedicated response team to help with identifying breaches, stopping them, and providing the proper legal notification to all affected parties. Familiarize yourself with these tips from the Federal Trade Commission on ways your small business can avoid scams. Train your staff in learning to identify and prevent data breaches, and keep a cyber liability policy in place if something should go wrong!

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Cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated in the ways they target business employees to gain access to financial records and accounts. CEO fraud is something you may not have heard of before but it should definitely be on your radar of potential cyber threats to your business.

Depending on how much time and effort the criminal spends in preparation, these attacks can be very sophisticated and catch many business owners, executives and other company employees off guard. CEO fraud involves the impersonation of a company executive to another employee by email or even sometimes through a text message to execute an unauthorized wire transfer of money or to send out confidential tax information.

Spoofing software allows cyber criminals to easily spoof a phone number and text a message that appears to come from an executive. When John in accounting receives a text from the CEO that appears to be legitimate and requests a wire transfer of funds, he is likely to comply without questioning the request. Cyber criminals are fully aware of this and this is why CEO fraud is one of their favorite tools of deception.

What can you do to stop CEO fraud? The first thing to do is let your employees know that CEO fraud exists and that no message will be sent by electronic communication or text message from any executive requesting money transfers or any sensitive financial information. If employees do receive such a request, they should report it immediately to a supervisor and never follow through with the request without a verbal confirmation from the executive.

Even with the most careful employee cyber security training, there is no guarantee that you won’t become a victim. Let us talk to you about how to protect your business with a cyber liability policy.

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Did you know that 43 percent of cyber security attacks are targeted toward small businesses? As a small business owner, you are keenly aware of the increasing threat of cyber-attacks. These attacks do not just happen to large corporations. They can happen to even small mom and pop operations or mid-sized businesses. The worst thing you can do is nothing. The threat of a cyber-attack isn’t going to disappear. You have to have a strategy to stay ahead of the game when it comes to cyber security.

When you consider what you have to lose from a cyber-attack, the need to protect yourself becomes very real. Your clients’ personal and private data could be exposed, including Social Security numbers, banking info, personal health information and more. Theft of these could leave you open to potential lawsuits, which could devastate your business financially.

Most small business owners don’t have the assets to have their own IT departments, so another solution to consider is outsourcing cyber security to a third-party such as a managed cyber security service. A professional cyber security service has trained staff to recognize potential cyber threats before they occur and manage the risk to your company; monitoring systems that identity and block malicious websites; encryption for your company files to protect them from attack; and the ability to block undesired network traffic and more. Most cyber security services can also provide training to you and your staff to manage your cyber risk.

Ultimately, you will have to make the decision whether outsourcing cyber security services is the right decision for your business. Even if you decide not to do this, you can protect your business from the fall-out of a cyber attack by purchasing the appropriate insurance coverage. Contact us for a consultation. We’d love to help you protect your business from potential cyber criminals.

Learn more about Manning Insurance Services’ Cyber Insurance..

We’ve all heard the staggering losses suffered by major companies attacked by cyber criminals. But did you know that small businesses also are in the crosshairs? In fact, nearly 55 percent of small businesses report having experienced a data breach of some form. A cyber criminal attack can hurt your reputation, your employees, your customers and your bottom line.

Cyber criminals often use malicious software to infiltrate a company’s data files, and then steal sensitive client data such as Social Security or credit card numbers. In some cases, the criminals ransom the data, demanding a payment to return the data or unlock your files. If you collect and store client data of any kind, you are vulnerable.

General liability policies generally exclude cyber liability and even an E&O (errors and omissions) policy will not provide protection for cyber liability. What can you do? To protect your business’ liability interests, it may be necessary for you to purchase a cyber insurance policy.

Cyber insurance can help your company recover losses such as these after a cyber attack:

• Lost revenue
• Data loss or destruction
• Business interruption
• Equipment damage
• Legal fees
• Forensic analysis
• Public relations
• Legally mandated notifications to clients

A cyber insurance policy helps cover the cost of notifying your customers of the data breach and helping to restore personal identities of those customers. It also can help with recovering data that has been compromised and repairing the damage to your computer systems. Some cyber insurance policies offer credit monitoring services to your clients after a data breach has occurred.

Interested in protecting your business against the damage of a cyber attack? Let us know.

Learn more about Manning Insurance Services‘ Cyber Insurance Policy.