Category Archives: Crime

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California Town Must Improve Risk Management or Lose Insurance Coverage

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Insured City

One southern California town has officially been warned that their insurance will be cut off if city officials do not adopt risk management policies.

Irwindale’s insurer, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, issued a performance improvement plan on August 28 and said city liability and workers compensation insurance will be terminated if it does not adopt the measures. Allegations of corruption have cast a pall over the police department and local government, and the city has been forced into almost $2 million in settlement payouts over the past five years, according to the Pasadena Star News.

“They’re on notice that they need to improve their risk management practices within the city’s operations, specifically in the police department, to maintain their insurance coverage with our agency,” JPIA’s risk management program manager Bob May told the paper.

Irwindale has been mired in controversy over the past few years.

Of 24 police officers, three are on paid administrative leave and the department is conducting 14 internal affairs investigations. A local woman recently filed a $20 million lawsuit against the city, alleging that an officer sexually assaulted her during a traffic stop. Police Lt. Mario Camacho has been accused of retaliation by an officer under his command and of sexual harassment by a female cadet. Four city officials are charged with of misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement and conflict of interest resulting from a series of lavish trips to New York City that utilized over $200,000 of public funds.

Under the guidelines from JPIA, the city must hire a permanent human resources manager and council members must complete training on council relations and cooperation. If they do not complete the improvement plan, they risk losing coverage and will have to go to the open market or self-insure.

In September 2011, the JPIA issued a similar warning to the city of La Puente, Calif. As part of the “healthy members program” criteria, which outlines what members should do to stay within risk management guidelines, Insurance Journal reported that the town’s performance improvement plan required that La Puente “hire a permanent city manager, give notice of any harassment and retaliation complaints, and send council members to etiquette classes to learn how to get along.” The city recently completed the program and remains insured.

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So far, the only town to be officially cut off by the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority is Maywood. The city was dropped in 2010 and the lack of insurance forced the local government to lay off almost all of its employees and disband the police department.

5 Ways Businesses Can Avoid Credit Card Fraud

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According to a March 2013 report from the Commerce Department, retail sales increased 1.1% in February to $421.4 billion, marking the biggest surge in the retail space since last September. Elevated sales numbers mean additional credit card transactions and, as a result, an increased risk for fraud.

A recent report from Javelin Strategy & Research found that credit card fraud has increased an alarming 87% since 2010 and accounted for a total loss of approximately $6 billion. Despite mounting evidence of this growing epidemic, loss as a result of credit card fraud has remained the proverbial elephant in the room for many businesses.

Organizations need to increase their awareness of this growing threat and the rather simple steps they can take to prepare themselves. The following are five tips for businesses leaders as they navigate through the economic climate in 2013 and beyond:

  1. Immediately deal with any breach. It’s critical to understand that even if all cautious, conservative steps are taken and the best payment processing security is installed, a breach can still occur. If it does, you must have detailed credit card sales records to refer back to as a means of retracing your steps. This will help in determining when and where the breach took place and therefore mitigate the potential for additional losses. A proper assessment of the initial attack may ultimately provide a trail back to the source of the breach.
  2. Maintain PCI Compliance. Not only is it against card brand regulations if you’re not Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant when accepting credit or debit cards, but it’s also an absolute must in today’s economic climate. Make certain your payment processing software security is current and is PA-DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standard)-certified, and that your business receives their PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) certification. PCI certification provides a level of confidence and assurance that a processor has followed and passed a robust set of best practices for securing the information being processed when credit card payments are made. There’s no silver bullet here. You have a responsibility to protect your customer’s credit card information, just like you should be protecting all of your customer data.The depth of the audit required will depend on your business volume and systems but a full PCI audit will offer a scorecard across your business’ payments environment, including all connected back-office applications, allowing you to make critical changes before security holes are exposed by thieves.
  3. Use end-to-end encryption for all sensitive data. End-to-end encryption (E2EE) essentially boils down to scrambling the data sent from one device to another. It starts with your payment capture devices, and goes all the way to the transaction being authorized. E2EE technology prevents the card account data from being stolen electronically and lessens the cost and impact for your business to become PCI-certified. A company’s mobile payment devices, credit card terminals, software applications, and online payment portals need built-in encryption functionality when transmitting customer information. Your company should select a payments provider that is technically savvy. Look for a partner that supports E2EE technology. You’ll need to balance cost versus product and service here. Using the low-cost provider could come at the expense of limited product functionality, potential security holes, and lower levels of customer service.
  4. Prevent tampering. Make certain all employees tasked with the responsibility of accepting credit and debit cards from customers have a working understanding of the looks and functionality of the payment processing equipment they’re using. Scammers often try to tamper with a business’ payment processing equipment in an effort to steal credit card information. Altered equipment usually consists of a small piece of hardware physically attached to the terminal itself. An attentive employee who knows what to look for should be able to easily identify an extra attachment to the device or oddly functioning software.
  5. Refrain from storing credit card numbers. To avoid one of the biggest PCI compliance risks, you should do everything in your power to not store credit cards numbers. Look for a payments provider whose platform is designed so credit card information is never stored at your business site or on your business software. Your provider should be able to process the transaction and then store your customers’ card information in a secure “vault” in the cloud. They should provide you with an encrypted ID, so when you want to do another transaction for that same customer, your software can pass the payments provider the encrypted ID so your company never comes in contact with the stored credit card data.

It’s reasonable to have a healthy level of economic optimism, but critical to take the necessary precautions to protect your company’s assets and security. Apply these tips to help ensure credit card scammers aren’t given the opportunity to steal the fruits of your labor.

Pirate Attacks Decrease Drastically

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In the past several years, pirate attacks on vessels in the northern Indian Ocean made headlines as hostages and the ships on which they worked were held for ransom in record numbers. It proved to be an attractive and lucrative career for poor residents of Somalia and surrounding areas — many of whom have little prospects for traditional money-making opportunities.

But pirates haven’t been so successful in recent months. In fact, the U.S. Navy reports that there was an 80% decline in overall attempted attacks in 2012 compared with 2011. In terms of vessels hijacked, the number decreased by almost 75%. The reason for this drastic decrease is simple: self-defense.

As African Business reports:

“The ultimate security measure a commercial ship can adopt is the use of privately contracted armed security teams,” says Andrew Shapiro, Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs of the US State Department. “These teams are often made up of former members of various armed forces, who guard merchant ships during transits through high risk waters,” he told a recent briefing in Washington. “The use of armed private sector security teams has been a potential game changer in combating piracy. To date, not a single ship with armed security personnel aboard has been successfully pirated.”

Other protective measures adopted by merchant shipping includes passing through high risk areas at full speed and erecting physical barriers, such as razor wire, to make it more difficult for pirates to come aboard.

So, even though the threat remains, it seems that companies are taking every effort to prevent attacks on vessels and staff. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted in a 2009 speech, “We may be dealing with a 17th century crime, but we need to bring 21st century solutions to bear.” It seems those 21st century solutions are working.

 

 

FARC and the Colombian Government: Deal or No Deal in Historic Peace Talks?

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In the December issue of Risk Management, we published a piece about the rising risk of terrorism in Colombia due, in part, to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s violent guerrilla group. Though there has been almost 50 years of tension between the anti-imperialist organization and Colombia’s government, recent peace talks created a sliver of hope for an end to violence between the two factions. FARC even pledged to cease kidnapping and declared a unilateral ceasefire until January 20, 2013.

But according to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, that’s just not enough. The president promised to support FARC as a legitimate political party if the group ended its violent ways — now.

“If Farc wants to end the conflict and switch bullets for votes, it will find the government at its disposal,” he said.

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“But if it tries to put its revolution on the table again instead of the decree placed on the table in Cuba, there will be no peace.” He added: “This cannot be a process of years but months.”

Refusing to accept the group’s cease fire pledge, President Santos made his impatience clear with a deadly raid December 3 that targeted a FARC camp, killing at least 20 rebels. FARC, apparently in retaliation, launched an attack of its own seven days later, killing one and injuring three in the southwestern region of Colombia.

But if these two groups can manage to come to a resolution, it would be a historic moment for all of Colombia.

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It would also significantly quell the country’s rampant, rebel-led kidnap-for-ransom practice.

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 As Will Miller, divisional director of special contingency risks for Willis, pointed out in his latest article on WillisWire, “The FARC’s actions in these initial stages of peace negotiation are a strong indication that there could be a reduced risk of kidnaps for ransom in Colombia.”

The peace talks are indeed a good sign — for many reasons. But we must remember that the FARC are not the only aggressive, paramilitary group to call Colombia home. And that may never change.