IRMI Update—Issue #61
An E-mail Newsletter for Risk and Insurance Professionals
ISSN: 1530-7948
March 18, 2003
In This Issue
Colleague,
When Richard Clarke resigned last month as President Bush's cybersecurity
czar, he warned that while the government had made progress in defending our
electronic infrastructure, we still face a greater peril because of our growing
dependence on the Internet. More recently, the U.S. government announced that
it was creating a special force to develop tools and tactics for waging cyber
warfare against other countries. You can bet that other countries and even terrorist
groups also have such initiatives underway. Thus, in the future, the Internet
will be a battleground, and unprepared businesses will be civilian casualties.
Implementing and updating firewalls, virus software, and the numerous security
patches that software developers release is a tedious and time-consuming task.
Unfortunately, information technology (IT) professionals in most organizations
are overwhelmed with projects, and cybersecurity efforts sometimes take a backseat.
The Sapphire Worm outbreak in January certainly proved this. It was an unsophisticated
worm for which a security patch had been available for quite some time, and
yet it infected hundreds of thousands of computers. A more sophisticated worm
would have wreaked havoc.
For this reason, I think it is imperative that risk professionals gain adequate
knowledge of cybersecurity to assure their organizations are prepared for cyber
attacks and even disruptions of the Internet itself. Part of this, of course,
is gaining the trust and confidence of the organization's IT department to enable
a constructive two-way flow of information. This will allow IT and risk professionals
to work together to protect the organization.
So what do you think? Is cybersecurity the sole realm of IT? Or should risk
professionals become involved in this important area? If so, in what capacity
should they be involved? What knowledge do you need, and how do you acquire
it? How do you earn the trust of the IT department? [See reader comments.]
Have a great day.
Jack
Jack P. Gibson
President
IRMI
Protect Your Identity—Identity theft is one
of the nation's fastest growing crimes, nearly 1 million victims a year.
The burden of protection and recovery falls to the victims, causing them
to spend significant amounts of time and money to reclaim their lives. On average,
victims spend 14 months and over 175 hours clearing their stolen identity. However,
consumers should not live in fear, as there are many measures they can take
to protect themselves from becoming a victim.
Here are a few tips to help consumers mitigate the risk of identity theft:
- Use a credit card, NOT a debit card, when transacting online, as credit
cards will generally reimburse for fraudulent charges.
- Don't leave your mail in the mailbox! Stealing mail is often the first
step identity thieves take.
- Don't give out your personal information (SSN, mother's maiden name,
etc.) unless absolutely necessary.
- Make sure your credit card company offers identity theft protection
as part of their services.
- Get a personal firewall on your home computer.
For a full list of tips and helpful advice, consumers should log on to this web site.
By Ty R. Sagalow
Chief Operating Officer
AIG eBusiness Risk Solutions
www.aigebrs.com
Suggest
a Risk Tip. Send us a practical tip (less than 300 words) for identifying
and managing risks, buying insurance, managing claims, or filling gaps in insurance
coverages. We'll give you credit for your contribution.
There are now 395 articles on IRMI.com, and many more are in production.
Below you'll find summaries of some recent additions with links to the articles.
Fine-Tune Your Captive With CICR—Get monthly commentary
and suggestions for fully utilizing your captive from
Captive Insurance Company
Reports (CICR). Edited by the consultants of Tillinghast Towers Perrin,
this monthly newsletter gives you strategies and tactics on writing third-party
business; making domicile decisions; understanding taxes, reinsurance, fronting
alternatives; and other important issues of the day.
84 S&P Insurer Downgrades in February—If there
was ever a time to monitor the financial status of your insurers it is now.
In February alone, Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded 84 insurers, and they
report that insurer failures rose slightly in 2002 despite a firmer pricing
environment. Find weekly S&P insurer rating changes on IRMI.com.
New Jersey Self-Study Courses
Coming Soon—Many continuing education (CE) courses are available
on IRMI.com for the incredible price of $49.95. Course provider approval has
recently been received from New Jersey. The New Jersey Department of Insurance
is now allowing agents to complete the required CE credits through self-study
courses. New Jersey agents will soon be able to complete their CE requirements
through IRMI.com without having to sit through a classroom course. With the
addition of New Jersey, CE credit can be obtained through IRMI.com in 49 out
of the 50 states. For more information, go to the Training & CE site.
Pat Wielinski has been a valued Expert Commentator for IRMI.com since its inception, writing
on the insurance law aspects of construction defect coverage. He is a principal
in the Dallas-Fort Worth office of Cokinos, Bosien & Young, where he practices
in the areas of construction, insurance coverage, and risk management. Mr. Wielinski
has been involved in insurance coverage claims involving defective workmanship
for nearly 20 years. He is a great friend of IRMI, as a frequent speaker at
the IRMI Construction Risk Conference, author of "Insurance for Defective Construction:
Beyond Broad Form Property Damage Coverage," and coauthor of "Contractual Risk
Transfer: Strategies for Contractual Indemnity and Insurance Provision." To
learn more about Mr. Wielinski and his practice, see his full biography and a list of
his articles.
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