Category: Cyber Risk

Cyber Risk / Emerging Issues

Agrisilience

Key Takeaways:
  • Precision agriculture and technological advances in food production and distribution represent countless pathways to potential cyber liabilities in the agribusiness setting
  • The distinct nature of commercial agribusiness and farm operations and insurance present unique data security threat vectors and, therefore, require targeted partnerships to respond to the segment’s business needs
  • Agritech + cyber resilience = agrisilience
Agritech has been broadly defined as the use of technologies and innovations to improve food production and distribution. It is yet another term of art in the… Continue Reading
Cyber Risk

Applying Discovery Rules to Cybersecurity Investigations

During discovery, corporate entities have long been asked to produce documents from related internal investigations. Most rules of civil procedure now explicitly address such scenarios and are supplemented by extensive caselaw- get help now for law assistance. As litigation in the cybersecurity field becomes more commonplace, a growing body of caselaw has developed to address investigations of cybersecurity incidents as well as a better secure web gateway going forward. In the high-profile investigation of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica by the Massachusetts attorney general, oral argument… Continue Reading
Cyber Risk / Emerging Issues

Part 4: Privacy Policy Requirements Under the CCPA

This is our fourth blog post in a multi-part series addressing what insurers need to know about the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This post focuses on a business’ obligations when it comes to their privacy policy, such as including and disclosing certain information regarding consumers’ rights. While this post does not require any background on the CCPA, if you would like the benefit of our preliminary discussions before diving into this post we invite you to start with Part 1: The California Consumer Privacy … Continue Reading
Cyber Risk / Data Privacy / Legislation

Robocall Legislation Likely to Move Forward for White House Approval

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee issued a joint statement early November advising that they have reached a deal on anti-robocall legislation which will seek to stave off those pesky robocalls United States consumers receive, often at the most inopportune times. Robocalls have been a growing problem in the U.S., based in large part on their solicitation of the disclosure of personal information to unknown organizations (who are typically based outside of the U.S.), often resulting in identity… Continue Reading
Cyber Risk

Part 3: Coverage Considerations Under CGL Policies for CCPA Violations

This blog post is our third in a multi-part series addressing what insurers need to know about the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Imagine this: You own a successful string of sporting goods stores across California. Not only do you sell goods directly, but you also finance large purchases to well-qualified buyers and have a generous rewards program. When customers log in to your website, you gather personal information (e.g., name, email address, cell number, etc.). In order to participate in the rewards… Continue Reading
Cyber Risk

Equifax Agrees to Largest Ever Data Breach Settlement

In connection with the massive 2017 Equifax data breach which affected more than 147 million consumers, a global settlement has been reached to resolve a multi-district consumer action as well as a suit brought by the Federal Trade Commission. Equifax, one of the largest consumer reporting agencies, was allegedly aware of a critical security vulnerability in March 2017. However, it failed to address the issue until July 2017, when suspicious traffic was detected. Ultimately, on September 7, 2017, Equifax announced a data breach involving… Continue Reading
Cyber Risk

Yearly Cyber Report Reveals Large Increases in Cyberattacks and Costs

The third Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report, which was published in April 2019, highlights the increased cyber risks that businesses are facing. The report, which drew data from seven countries (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States), noted the marked rise in both the amount of attacks and the overall costs stemming from cyber losses. Turning first to the increase in cyberattacks, 61 percent of respondents reported a cyber incident, up from 45 percent last year across the seven… Continue Reading
Cyber Breach / Cyber Risk / Regulation

Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices

Earlier this year the Department of Health and Human Services issued a report that in part detailed practices hospitals can use to avoid cyberattacks against the health care industry. The genesis of the report was the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 (CSA) and more specifically, section 405(d). That section calls for “aligning health care industry security approaches.” The forward to the report provides that “industry and government came together under the auspices of the 405(d) task group…focused on building a set of voluntary, consensus-based principles to… Continue Reading
Cyber Risk / Cybersecurity

Congress Concludes Additional Federal Oversight Needed after Equifax Data Breach

“Equifax…failed to implement an adequate security program to protect this sensitive data…Such a breach was entirely preventable.” So concludes the December 2018 report on “The Equifax Data Breach” by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The cause, according to the report, was Equifax’s “acquisition strategy [to benefit] bottom line and stock price,” which “growth brought increasing complexity to Equifax’s IT systems, and expanded data security risks.” Risks, it seems, Equifax did not manage. In 2017, the Department of Homeland Security… Continue Reading
Cyber Risk / Cybersecurity / Legislation

Congress Continues to Grapple with Election Interference

The Secure Elections Act may be back on the table once again. The bipartisan bill was introduced “to protect the administration of Federal elections against cybersecurity Threats.” In large part, the bill was intended to combat concerns that Russia and other state and private actors could exploit vulnerabilities in backend election systems, including voter registration databases, ballot creation systems, election voting services, voting machine configuration systems, absentee processing and reporting and tabulation software. The bill’s sponsors hope to pass a version of the… Continue Reading