Cyber security

No matter how good your IT security is, your business is at risk for having both company and client information stolen. Most recently apple Google, Facebook, Citibank, and even the federal government have all fallen prey to cyber-attacks in the past year.

It’s not just the big name companies that are at risk either – more smaller and mid-sized companies are becoming the targets of online data theft and fraud. Cybercrime has become organized and is now over a trillion dollar a year business. While large-scale security breaches tend to get more attention from the media, it makes more sense for hackers to find easier targets which are smaller and more vulnerable companies. According to the Ponemon Institute the average cyber attack can cost companies 3.8 million per year, but can range from $1 million to $52 million per year per company.

The good news about cyber is that most data and privacy breaches are preventable. Only 3% of the 1,700 incidents that occurred in 2010 were considered unavoidable. By carefully identifying your exposures and proactively planning for incidents, you can do a great deal to ensure your company isn’t the next cyber victim. 

 

 

Find out how much a Cyber Breach could cost you. Try the Ponemon Institutes Data Breach Risk Calculator!

 

https://databreachcalculator.com/

 

 

For further information on Cyber Liability please do not hesitate to call SCS Agency Inc at 516-466-6007.

Gun Control & Insurance

A recent issue that has been the topic of much debate, over the national spectrum, has been gun control.  The latest shootings in both Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut have now brought the debate to the political level.  A possible answer that has been gaining a bit of steam over recent weeks has been mandating liability insurance for gun owners.  Just like owning an automobile, if you are to drive the car on the road and assume the risk, you must be willing to pay for it. In most states, car owners are required to buy insurance coverage, leading to an elaborate insurance system that financially rewards good drivers with lower premiums and penalizes bad drivers with higher premiums. So for instance, an 80-year-old married woman in Fort Lauderdale would get a great rate. A 20-year-old in inner-city Chicago wouldn’t be able to afford it. A 32-year-old man with a record of drunk driving and domestic violence would have a similar problem.

The 1st objection that came to mind is that approximately  9,000 people per year are murdered with firearms in America, essentially every one of the killings could be grounds for a suit. Liability insurance for firearms might be so prohibitively expensive that no one would be able to afford it.  Some argue that would not be the case. The National Rifle Association already offers "excess personal liability and self-defense" coverage to its members, and according to their website it seems $100,000 worth of insurance costs just $165 per year; $250,000 worth is $254.

This isn't a substitute for other popular gun-control measures, such as limitations on magazine capacity, universal background checks and so forth. But given the limitations on possible gun control measures in a country where the Supreme Court holds individual gun ownership for home self-defense to be a constitutionally protected right, and where there may be 300million firearms already in circulation, it seems like a good place to start.

For further information please call SCS Agency Inc at 516-466-6007.