US Pro Insurance Services is America’s leading Cyber Liability Insurance wholesale broker in providing you information, articles, and facts surrounding Cyber Liability programs, as well as access to America’s most competitive insurance programs for these exposures. We can write a national cyber liability program for large corporations, hospitality, healthcare, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, manufacturing and all other industry classes.
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This week’s review of articles and news pertaining to the Cyber Liability Industry include some extremely important stories filled with information vital to your customers. Let’s take a closer look at the information.
Insurance Journal (Healthcare)
A recent article titled Health Industry Lacks Patient Data Safeguards (by Alina Selyukh- September 23, 2011) claimed that ” New technologies are flooding into the healthcare world, but the industry is not adequately prepared to protect patients from data breaches, according to a report published Thursday.”
The article further goes on to state that “A vast majority of hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and insurers are eager to adapt to increasingly digital patient data. However, less than half are addressing implications for privacy and security, a survey of healthcare industry executives by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP found. PwC’s Health Research Institute interviewed 600 executives in the spring of this year and also found that less than half of their companies have addressed issues related to the use of mobile devices. Less than a quarter have addressed implications of social media.”
The most alarming part of the story is that “some 74 percent of healthcare organizations were planning to expand the purposes for which they use electronic patient health data, but only 47 percent of the companies have or are addressing related privacy and security issues, the report said.”
As a result of this, it is not a surprise that over half of surveyed executives said they were aware of some privacy or security breach within the past two years, with hospitals being the most susceptible.
Huffington Post (Telecommunications)
Nortel’s hacking sounds the alarm for the entire telecommunications industry, according to a recent article that appeared in the Huffington Post. Excerpts of this articles as follows:
“The long-term penetration of Nortel Networks’ computer system by hackers raises the possibility that owners of the company’s telecom equipment could face cyber-security concerns of their own, some experts say.
Hackers, possibly from China, spied on Nortel Networks for nearly a decade, according to report Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal. The hackers had access to Nortel’s business plans, reports, emails and other documents by stealing passwords from top company executives and installing spyware they controlled remotely, according to the paper.
Though it filed for bankruptcy three years ago, Nortel was once one of the world’s largest providers of telecom equipment. Nortel’s gear is still used to route phone calls and Internet traffic by major telecom providers, government agencies, hospitals and banks using private networks. Experts say it is difficult to determine the motive behind the breach or what information was stolen.
“This is a wakeup call,” Sharma said.
The former official added that the bigger concern about the Nortel hack was the theft of intellectual property. The stolen information, possibly including valuable research and development plans, would likely be given to Chinese telecom companies, the former official said.”
IdentityTheftInfo.com
Check out these crazy identity theft victim statistics that keep piling up as reported at IdentityTheftInfo.com
- Approximately 15 million United States residents have their identities used fraudulently each year with financial losses totaling upwards of $50 billion.*
- On a case-by-case basis, that means approximately 7% of all adults have their identities misused with each instance resulting in approximately $3,500 in losses.
- Close to 100 million additional Americans have their personal identifying information placed at risk of identity theft each year when records maintained in government and corporate databases are lost or stolen.
These alarming statistics demonstrate identity theft may be the most frequent, costly and pervasive crime in the United States.
The sophistication level of professional identity thieves involved in organized crime continues to grow along with the methods they develop. From individually tailored phishing and vishing scams, to increasingly successful hacks of corporate and government databases, to elaborate networks of botnets designed to hijack millions of computers without any trace, there is an ever-increasing threat to all Americans.
At the same time, basic methods of identity theft continue unabated. From stealing wallets and purses, to dumpster diving and stealing mail, to the use of pretext and social engineering to deceive customer call centers into releasing personal account information, the original methods of identity theft still work.
As the methods used to perform identity theft expand, so do the types of accounts and services being stolen by identity thieves. Credit, debit, checking and saving accounts are no longer the only targets. Identity fraud has grown to include theft of cell and landline phone service; cable and satellite television service; power, water, gas and electric service; Internet payment service; medical insurance; home mortgages and rental housing; automobile, boat and other forms of financing and loans; and, government benefits. Identity thieves will also use stolen identities to obtain employment and to deceive police when arrested.
Quite simply, every individual or business is vulnerable to attack when it comes to personal or corporate information, products and services.
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