INSUREtrust

News Articles

• We are Hiring! - 17 May 2013

• We are looking for a candidate in CA that has 3 or more years in production in a wholesale agency. We might also consider someone who has retail agency experience. It is preferred that the individual have experience in Errors and Omissions Products – even better if they have experience with Tech E&O and Cyber [Continue Reading]

• Grocery Chain Being Sued Over Data Breach - 15 May 2013

• Schnucks, a family-owned grocery chain located in the Midwest, was the victim of a cyber attack between December 2012 and March 2013.  In a prior post on our website, we mentioned that up to 2.4 million credit cards were potentially compromised. As the fallout continues, Schnucks is facing three class action lawsuits in both federal [Continue Reading]

• Smartphone Pictures Pose Privacy Risks - 10 May 2013

• Thanks to the geotracking capabilities of smart phones, you are potentially leaving a digital trail everywhere you go.  And many people are unwittingly posting photos on social media sites that have embedded location information, so a stalker can easily see exactly where a given photo was taken and track down a potential victim. Article Excerpt: [Continue Reading]

• 2013 INSUREtrust Cubicle Contest - 9 May 2013

• Celebrating 45 Years of Creative Use of Office Space from Des Moines to Decatur You Can Win cash Prizes and Other Goodies – Enter between Now and June 1, 2013. Winners picked June 15, 2013.     Submit your decorated cubicle today! Select Entries will be posted at the bottom of this page for Voting [Continue Reading]

• Charles Schwab Cyber Attack On Website - 8 May 2013

• Financial services firm Charles Schwab was the recent target of a denial of service attack, leaving some customers unable to access their online accounts.  But the company says no client data was compromised.  Numerous banks have also been under cyber attack in the last few months. Article Excerpt: Charles Schwab, the discount broker whose online [Continue Reading]

• Cyber espionage a growing danger to businesses - 8 May 2013

• Cyber espionage is a scary word that brings to mind images of national security threats by foreign countries.  But cyber-espionage is not limited to large-scale attacks.  In fact, according to Symantec, there was a 42 percent increase in cyber-espionage in 2012, with 31 percent of attacks targeted at small businesses. In a cyber espionage assault, [Continue Reading]

• Is Your Firm Safe From Cyber Threats? Survey Says… - 26 April 2013

• According to a new cyber insurance market survey, only 39% of risk and finance managers polled said they purchase cyber insurance.  Ironically, only 13% of non-buyers believed that their firm is safe from serious cyber threats. Article Excerpt: Carriers offering cyber insurance may have seen an increase in demand for their specialty insurance policies over [Continue Reading]

• Regions Bank hit with Cyber attack - 24 April 2013

• Regions Bank, a large bank operating in the South and Midwest, was hit with a cyber attack earlier this month, leaving customers unable to access online and mobile banking applications.  Some of the nation’s largest banks have been victims of cyber crime in recent months. Article Excerpt: The bank confirmed this tip through their Twitter account, [Continue Reading]

• Schnucks Cyber Attack May Have Compromised 2.4 Million Credit Cards - 17 April 2013

• Schnucks, the Midwestern grocery store chain that revealed on March 30 it was the victim of a cyber attack, has gotten more bad news.  Up to 2.4 million credit cards of its customers might have been compromised.  Furthermore, the store just got slapped with two civil lawsuits, accusing it of not notifying affected customers quickly [Continue Reading]

• Old Cyber Threats Pose Greater Dangers - 12 April 2013

• Hackers are becoming more organized and cyber threats have become more sophisticated, according to a new report by the Information Security Forum.  The report also notes that criminals haven’t suffered a cut in their funding, though many companies have cut back on IT security spending. Article Excerpt: The bad guys who attack information systems are [Continue Reading]

• Notification Costs – INSUREtrust’s Cyber Risk Management Boot Camp Video - 10 April 2013

• Nearly all the states have breach notification laws, requiring a business that’s been hacked to notify persons whose sensitive information may have been compromised. The costs of notification can be extremely high. Estimates vary widely, but range from about $50-200 per record. Expenses incurred by a business suffering a breach include mailing letters, setting up [Continue Reading]

• Fortune 500 Companies Missing Policies for IP - 9 April 2013

• One-quarter of Fortune 500 companies do not have specific policies in place on how to protect intellectual property from cyber attacks, according to a new study.  Furthermore, one-third of the 500 have no policies on how to protect personal identifying information.  This is ironic, given that cyber breaches topped the list of things that publically-traded [Continue Reading]

• Schnucks grocery store hacked - 3 April 2013

• Schnucks, a Midwestern grocery store chain, has confirmed that “malicious computer code” was used to hack into its payment card processing system to steal data from customers’ debit and credit cards. Article Excerpt: Schnucks, a St. Louis-based grocery store chain that announced March 26 it was investigating a potential breach, has now confirmed “malicious computer [Continue Reading]

• Are you one of the 19? You should be! - 29 March 2013

• It’s no secret that many businesses are unprotected from cyber risks.  A new study released recently by Zurich confirms this:  Only 19% of all organizations polled had insurance for cyber liability.  Yet, most firms are increasingly worried about cyber issues.  Though the companies in the survey were nearly all European, the picture is basically the [Continue Reading]

• Worldwide Internet slowdown due to largest cyber attack in history - 27 March 2013

• According to some experts, the biggest cyber attack in history began this week, and as a result of the battle, Internet access speeds around the world have reportedly suffered.  Amazingly, the massive attack is the result of a feud between a web hosting company and an anti-spam group. Spamhaus is a group of technologies companies, [Continue Reading]

• Personal Identification Information Includes Zip Codes - 25 March 2013

• The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that ZIP codes qualify as personal identification information (PII) in that state.  In the case, a retailer had asked a customer for her ZIP code when processing her credit card for a purchase.  The court found that this was a violation of her privacy rights under a state [Continue Reading]

• JPMorgan Chase & Co Latest Targets of Cyber Attacks - 21 March 2013

• Large banks have been under cyber attack lately, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. seems to be the latest victim.  In this particular incident, the attackers used a technique know as denial-of-service (DoS), which is designed to overwhelm a server or group of servers with meaningless traffic, so legitimate functions cannot be performed. Article Excerpt: A [Continue Reading]

• Celebrities Have Personal Financial Records Hacked – You Can Too! - 20 March 2013

• Tiger Woods and Mitt Romney are the latest in a growing list of celebrities to have their personal financial records hacked.  Cyber criminals apparently accessed files at Equifax, one of the big three credit reporting agencies.  First Lady Michelle Obama has also been a victim of such a cyber attack.  Hackers can break into major [Continue Reading]

• Inmate Hacks Prison Network – While in Prison! - 19 March 2013

• Hackers are smart and clever.  They have to be to undo the intricate security measures many businesses put in place to protect proprietary and customer data.  A prison in England discovered this fact first hand when it allowed an inmate who had been convicted of a hacking crime to enroll in an IT class.  The [Continue Reading]

• Your unencrypted data is easy prey for a hacker - 19 March 2013

• Information stored on a server in your office may seem relatively secure, but the truth is hackers can break in and steal your data with relative ease.  Start sending information via the Internet to vendors and employees working remotely, and the data becomes even more vulnerable. Would you leave your house unlocked while you’re gone [Continue Reading]

• What you don’t know about Advanced Persistent Threats - 19 March 2013

• Can you explain an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)?  Probably not, if you’re like most folks.  But you should at least know what an APT is if you are even remotely responsible for your company’s data security, because it is one of the techniques hackers use to break into networks. Hackers have to be patient to [Continue Reading]

• New Video Discusses Lessons Learned from Massive SC Data Breach - 13 March 2013

• ATLANTA – Data breaches are a threat to businesses, nonprofits, and government entities of all sizes. But possessing strong IT security infrastructure and techniques can go a long way towards mitigating an attack, should one occur. Unfortunately for the taxpayers of South Carolina, the SCDOR did a poor job of protecting their personally identifiable data [Continue Reading]

• Hospice Facility in Idaho Fined for Data Breach - 8 March 2013

• It appears that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is getting more aggressive in enforcing HIPAA regulations. Recently a hospice facility in Idaho was fined $50,000 for a breach involving 441 patients. It was the first settlement by HHS for a HIPAA data breach of less than 500 patients’ records. The cause [Continue Reading]

• Lessons Learned from the Cyber Breach at the South Carolina Department of Revenue - 6 March 2013

• Breaches happen every day, to small and large businesses, as well as non-profits and government entities.  It is important to always be on your guard and use best practices in the battle against cyber theft. There were several mistakes the South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR) made leading up to the massive hacking incident it [Continue Reading]

• Massive credit fraud ring busted - 26 February 2013

• Federal agents recently arrested 13 people in four different states in connection with what is being described as one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever.  A handful of others had already been previously arrested.  According to the FBI, at least $200 million was stolen from businesses and financial institutions over the scam’s multi-year [Continue Reading]

• HTML5 opens new doors for hackers - 19 February 2013

• Hackers are after sensitive data, because exploiting it can lead to big payoffs.  Even if your company is small, it can still be a lucrative target for cyber thieves.  While it’s impossible for the business owner or risk manager to understand all the cyber dangers out there – as they constantly change and evolve – [Continue Reading]

• Security Flaws found in Universal Plug & Play Standard - 14 February 2013

• Security flaws in the popular Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) standard have prompted the Department of Homeland Security to warn individuals and businesses of the danger in leaving UPnP features activated. Many devices use UPnP to help them easily connect to a network, and are quite vulnerable to attacks. Since the release of a study [Continue Reading]

• Twitter announced recently that it has fallen victim to hackers - 13 February 2013

• On February 1, 2013, the micro-blogging service revealed that approximately 250,000 users’ account information – including usernames, email addresses, and passwords – was potentially compromised.  If you use Twitter and your account was among those the hackers could have broken into, you should have received an email from Twitter notifying you of the attack. Twitter [Continue Reading]

• New HIPAA / HITECH Omnibus Rule put more liability on firms handling personal health data - 12 February 2013

• Digital medical records hold particularly sensitive information – including health conditions, diagnoses, and prescribed medications and treatments.  But they also contain a wealth of other information that cyber thieves can use to get rich, such as names and addresses linked to Social Security numbers.  Thus, data containing personal health information (PHI) is a prime target [Continue Reading]

• Data Breach Causes Organization to Ban Cell Phones - 4 February 2013

• Smart phones present all kinds of security challenges for organizations, as data can be stolen from them and criminals can use them to capture and transmit private information. Jackson Health System in Florida has decided to ban cell phone use by volunteers, after it experienced a data breach in 2012 at the hands of a [Continue Reading]