The New "SEXY" Insurance

Cyber Liability is the new “sexy insurance” according to the National Underwriter P&C Magazine.
Sexy you say?
Well – those who have had losses I am sure do not find anything sexy about Cyber Liability. They just wish they had it!

Let’s take a look at the case in Minneapolis where a laptop was stolen out of a car. Most medical data includes all (if not some basic form) of an individual’s identity. That can include their social security number!
In the case in Minneapolis, the medical information had been shared with a third party and was presumed to be safe. However the third party did not encrypt the data. Therefore when the laptop was stolen the data was available to anyone and everyone.
So here are the questions – why was this third party able to download data and not have it encrypted? Was it written anywhere that it had to be encrypted? Who monitored the transaction of data?
As more questions from this case arise each day one thing is for certain – patient’s identities were stolen. Who knows how or when or why they will be used – but the information is out there in someone else’s hands.
The first step for the third party company was to contact the patients affected by this horrible situation. Once these parties were contacted some in the firm could begin looking at the how, why and when the event occurred.
“Notification costs usually end up being the biggest hit in these cases” shared Joe Schneider, RPLU and Jimcor’s Professional Liability manager.
“What people and companies don’t realize is that even if nothing went wrong and they took every safeguard – they may still have to notify clients that data has been compromised.”
Schneider continued that some carriers are simply adding on a data breach or cyber liability “rider” as part of the general policy. However clients need to understand that liability limits can be eroded by data privacy losses.
“With notifications making up the majority of the initial costs , usually averaging over $200 per record, it’s no wonder this coverage is being mentioned every time agents talk to their prospects or clients. If an agent is not mentioning this coverage they are not only losing an opportunity, they may be exposing themselves to an E&O claim.”
Schneider also explained that insurance agencies should all have the coverage in place for their own offices. Many go uninsured – and hopefully will see the need before they are hit with a loss.

So… back to this being “sexy insurance”… when you think about it what’s so sexy about losing someone’s identity and then having to pay the costs and fees to help them protect the information and get their lives back on track?

You read the article and decide if this is something you think your agency needs – or your clients’ need. If so call us or email Joe Schneider today.

Star Tribune article

Property Casualty 360 article

Special thanks to Business Insurance for the great cartoon!

Jimcor Helps Make Insurance Cool for the Next Generation

Recently I had the opportunity to go into my son Tommy's 5th grade class to talk about the insurance industry.

The American Agent and Broker article (link below or in the title above) talks about my day in the classroom and the students' reactions.

Yes, insurance can be cool. Yes, young children can understand the differences between independent agents and MGA's and insurance companies and the relationships that exist between the three. They learned about how the industry works with local and state governments and about flood and homeowners insurance. And yes, they loved the Dunkin Donuts that I brought in to entice them to listen and ask questions!

Overall the day was a great success.

How can you get started? It's simple - reach out . Just by contacting my high school Accounting teacher I was able to work with students on projects and talk to them about the different careers in insurance while they learned about the industry. Opportunities are out there if you have the time and know where to find the tools. You can utilize resources from associations like PIA and go to organized events like career days, college fairs, etc.

To read the article click here.

What other ways can we work together to improve the public perception of the industry? How can we get more people interested in careers in insurance if not for today, then as a future career? What are your thoughts? As an industry we need to work on our image with the public. We all know that. Employers allowing staff the time to talk to students, attend events such as a career day make a world of difference. Jimcor giving employees like me the time to give back to the industry and our community only makes our company that much stronger in the end - management realizes and embraces this in our culture. What is your corporate culture?

These kids may have been young, but they learned that insurance is more than a cartoon or lizard. And most importantly, INSURANCE IS COOL!