Cyber insurance is now critical to help protect your business.
Cyber attacks are becoming
more frequent, clever and complex. Cyber insurance is now critical
to help protect your business from major expenses, business loss, and
regulatory fines and penalties.
General liability umbrella policies typically do not cover
cyber events (Target’s insurance policy only covered
36 percent of its $252 million data breach costs).
This insurance comes in many different variations and
costs, so it is important to know what product works best for you, considering
and balancing coverage and cost.
Four key elements comprise essential coverage to protect
against data breach and loss of customer data:
E&O
Liability
Network
Security
Privacy
What is most important is that both cyber-crimes and
liability are included in your coverage.
The policy may be a standalone, or a rider on to your
existing policy. Always buy the most
compressive coverage available that you can afford.
Here is why that is so important:
Broad coverage includes both first and third-party
coverage. First party only covers your business, while third party will cover
the claims against you from customers or clients as well as related damages and
court costs.
The below comparisons show why you need both cyber-crimes and cyber liability coverage:
Event
Liability Coverage
Crime Coverage
Loss of funds (escrow and operational,
personal) due to social engineering and electronic fraud or theft
No
Yes
Fraudulent electronic transfer or
divergence of funds
No
Yes
Employee electronic theft
No
Yes
Forgery
No
Yes
Cyber extortion (ransomware)
No
Yes
Data breach expenses including legal
costs, fines or penalties
Yes
No
Loss of assets and loss of business
income
Yes
No
Recovery of systems and forensics;
reputational damages
Yes
No
Economic damages through network
security failure or failure of privacy controls
Yes
No
Consult with your insurance carrier for specific coverage
offerings and cost and weigh the decision that is right for your business and
budget.
Remember, the
broadest form of coverage will best protect you and your business so while it
may be more expensive, your business will be better protected against the risks
we face in today’s business environment.
Alliant National is the sole title insurance underwriter to achieve this information assets security certification
LONGMONT, Colo. – Alliant National Title Insurance Company, a unique title insurance underwriter that partners with independent agents to improve their competitive position in the marketplace, has completed its 2019 annual surveillance audit and maintained the prestigious and coveted ISO 27001 Certification for 2019.
Alliant National must successfully complete a formal, independent annual surveillance audit to maintain the certification. Successfully completing this audit is evidence that Alliant National continues to meet rigorous international standards in ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, availability and protection of non-public information.
“This annual audit provides lenders and our stakeholders strong assurance in our protection of non-public and confidential information,” Alliant National COO David Sinclair said. “It reflects our ongoing commitment to meet or exceed the highest standards when securing and protecting the non-public information that we are entrusted with every day.”
Media Inquiries
Cathie Beck
Capital City Public Relation
e : cathie@capitalcitypr.com
p : 303-241-0805
ISO 27001 is an information security standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the world’s largest developer of voluntary international standards, and the International Electrotechnical Commission.
Alliant National’s initial certification was issued in May 2015 by A-lign, an independent and accredited certification body based in the United States. In 2018 Alliant National was recertified until 2021 subject to successfully completing annual independent surveillance audits.
“We are very pleased to have successfully completed this 2019 annual ISO 27001 certification surveillance audit, which continues to distinguish the unique capabilities of Alliant National,” Sinclair said.
About Alliant National Title Insurance Company
The Independent Underwriter for The Independent Agent® Alliant National believes in putting other people first. The company protects the dreams of property owners with secure title insurance and partners with 500+ trusted independent title agents as a licensed underwriter in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
Alliant National is the largest title insurance underwriter in the country with no direct operations to compete against its agents and puts the interests of its agents first. Bolstered by financial stability, strong underwriting capability and independent agents’ in-depth knowledge of local markets, the company has established a nationwide network with deep roots in local communities and a wealth of expertise that is flexible, nuanced and continuously growing.
The Internal Revenue Service and Security Summit partners recently issued a warning about the surge of fraudulent emails impersonating the IRS and using tax transcripts as bait to entice users to open documents containing malware.
The scam is especially problematic for businesses whose employees might open the malware because the software can spread throughout the network and potentially take months to successfully remove.
Known as Emotet, this malware generally poses as specific banks and financial institutions in its effort to trick people into opening infected documents.
In the past few weeks, the scam masqueraded as the IRS, pretending to be from “IRS Online.” The scam email carries an attachment labeled “Tax Account Transcript” or something similar, and the subject line uses some variation of the phrase “tax transcript.”
These clues can change with each version of the malware. Scores of these malicious Emotet emails were forwarded to phishing@irs.gov. recently.
The IRS reminds taxpayers it does not send unsolicited emails to the public, nor would it email a sensitive document such as a tax transcript, which is a summary of a tax return. The IRS urges taxpayers not to open the email or the attachment.
If using a personal computer, delete or forward the scam email to phishing@irs.gov.
If you see these using an employer’s computer, notify the company’s technology professionals.
Reprinted with permission from the American Land Title Association.
However, we don’t have to wait until a federal law is passed that orders banks to match the payee name on the wire transfer payment to name on the payee’s destination bank account (“Beneficiary Bank”).
As title and escrow agents, we can be proactive and in partnership with the banks with which we do business.
So, what can we do right now?
First, we can know what our Agreement with our Escrow Account Bank says.
Does your Bank Agreement say that your bank will check the payee’s name with the name on the destination account when a wire fund transfer is initiated?
Or, does it say your bank need only rely upon the account number it was provided in the wiring instructions order? The answers to these questions might lead to an opportunity to have a discussion with your partnering Receiving Bank.
We can also send the wire instructions on the payment order, with explicit directions that acceptance be restricted to match the designated payee’s name on the Beneficiary Bank account. If it doesn’t match, then do not send the funds.
Lastly, if something does go wrong despite our best efforts and precautions, then notify both the Beneficiary Bank and the Receiving Bank as soon as possible. Typically, banks require notification of an unauthorized transfer or error within a defined time period such as, for example, thirty or sixty days.
Aside from any contractual or legal requirement for early notification, the sooner the problem is communicated, the greater the odds of the bank being able to halt or pull back the wire funds transfer.
