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Expect More Cyber Crime No business is safe in the foreseeable future by Andy Schwartze As we enter the new decade, the business of protecting the corporate balance sheet and revenue flow from illegal attacks is becoming a greater concern to owners and managers. These “cyber-attacks” are becoming more frequent, broad-based and certainly creative. With regular digital communications, electronic data and payments being shared over the internet, openings for abuse are expanding and will inevitably become a growing threat. In this respect, the areas of exposure encompass a number of business sectors. The insurance world is still grappling with the perceived enormity of a possible claim and has not yet fully built out a coverage system that is able to maturely rely on many years of experience. Nor is it sufficiently defined to enable corporate insurance buyers to accurately nail down a connection between coverage needs and what may be available in the marketplace, not to mention the balancing of these with premium cost availabilities. Companies have any one of a number of exposures that can be attacked from the outside. These can be defined in broad terms, and probably fall mostly into the following categories: 24 | Canadian Apartment | Part of the REMI Network |
1. Unauthorized access to financial accounts 2. Establishment of fictitious outside payees 3. Access to sensitive/proprietary or intellectual “property” or trade secrets 4. Theft of established and internally developed database information 5. Theft of “personal” information collected from suppliers or customers. Whether an illegal external intrusion comes from within the organization, or from the outside, the corporate victim generally does not know something has been “stolen” until after the deed
