Игроки всегда ценят удобный и стабильный доступ к играм. Для этого идеально подходит зеркало Вавады, которое позволяет обходить любые ограничения, обеспечивая доступ ко всем бонусам и слотам.

Check Your Policy: ‘C’ in CGL Doesn’t Stand for Cyber

Posted on by

Data breaches continue to escalate and garner national attention, and 2014 may be known as the turning point when businesses realized the dramatic significance of such a risk—and that it is not when, but if, a breach will occur. The sheer number of high-profile breaches is also waking up policyholders to the fact that cyber insurance is a critical part of any insurance program.

In response to the continually-growing risk of loss from cyber and privacy violations, insurers are reacting in two ways. First, most insurance companies have excluded cyber risks from more traditional insurance policies, such as commercial general liability (CGL) or commercial property.

Secondly, insurers are racing into the market with new products aimed at providing specialized coverage for such losses. Now is the time to analyze exposure for cyber risks and address insurance needs to close any gaps in coverage.

CGL isn’t for Cyber Coverage

Just as insurers reacted to CGL policies providing coverage for environmental exposures, they are now doing so with respect to cyber losses. Last May, Insurance Services Office (ISO) introduced several new endorsements addressing access or disclosure of confidential or personal data. These new endorsements will strip most, if not all, coverage for data-related losses from CGL policies.

The losses that are excluded could be those at the heart of an enterprise that if uninsured, could cripple a business with response and rebuilding expenses related to their network infrastructure. These endorsements are already showing up in most renewals.

Perhaps even more significantly, the endorsements not only exclude coverage for the compromised data or information itself, but also for the costs of responding to and remediating the data breach or violation. The endorsements specifically exclude any coverage for, “notification costs, public relations expenses or any other loss, cost or expense,” incurred as a result of the event.

The Sony coverage case is cementing the idea that CGL policies will not provide coverage for data breaches. Zurich American denied Sony’s claim for defense and indemnification in wake of the massive data breach with its Playstation system. The data breach exposed personal information of tens of millions of users, and Sony’s losses are reportedly estimated to be as high as billion.

online pharmacy xifaxan with best prices today in the USA

Zurich sought a ruling that it did not have to defend or indemnify Sony for any data breach claims.

In his bench ruling last March, New York Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey K. Oing ruled that acts by third-party hackers do not constitute, “oral or written publication in any manner of the material that violates a person’s right of privacy,” in the coverage B (personal and advertising injury coverage) under Zurich’s CGL policy.

Insurers are certain to resist efforts to find coverage under CGL policies.

A True Cyber Policy is an Insured’s Best Protection

The good news is that businesses can obtain cyber insurance for losses, but it is critical to understand the full scope of the coverage you purchase. Insurance to protect your property and network can include:

• Computer data restoration

• Re-securing a company’s information network

• Theft and fraud coverage

• Business interruption

• Forensic investigations

• Extortion

Commentators note that first-party losses are usually the higher costs to a business suffering a cyberattack, so adequate coverage in this area is vital.

Organizations need liability insurance as well. Of course, most coverage in this area will provide for a defense to litigation brought by customers for their direct losses due to a breach. Insurance may also cover: crisis management, credit monitoring for customers, the cost associated with notifying customers of a breach, media and privacy liability and responses to regulatory investigations.

There is no time like the present for policyholders of all sizes to analyze their insurance programs to determine if their current insurance will cover cyber risks.

online pharmacy vilitra with best prices today in the USA

However, the policy forms among the different carriers vary tremendously, and policyholders must be vigilant to ensure they purchase the right coverage.

A critical area to watch for with cyber insurance are the sublimits.

online pharmacy lasix with best prices today in the USA

While many policyholders have a far better understanding of standard CGL and property coverage, it remains critical for them to take extra time to truly understand the nature of a new cyber policy being added into their insurance program.

An ounce of prevention upfront from such an analysis may prevent the type of insurance fight many policyholders are facing in order to get the coverage they paid for from their insurer.

Flurry-Down Economics: The Real Cost of Blizzards

Posted on by

Winter Storm Juno New York City

Despite predictions of a “historic” snowstorm this week, the Northeast – and the insurance industry – largely dodged the blizzard bullet. Over the past 20 years, winter storms have caused an average of $1.2 billion in insurable losses every year, the Insurance Information Institute reported. Last year’s polar vortex and significant snow accumulations came with a price tag between $15 and $50 billion, and winter weather caused $3.7 billion in overall losses, of which an estimated $2.3 billion was insured, according to MunichRe.

NATURAL DISASTER LOSSES IN THE UNITED STATES, 2014

Ahead of what could have been record snow, seven states preemptively declared a state of emergency for what some dubbed Winter Storm Juno. Authorities shut down many major cities, canceling thousands of flights and closing major roads and mass transit systems.

buy zantac online healthdirectionsinc.com/flash/swf/zantac.html no prescription pharmacy

Though Boston was pummeled by about two feet of snow, New York City and most of the region emerged relatively unscathed.

“We think the economic impact of the storm is going to be relatively small,” said Evan Gold, senior vice president at weather advisory firm Planalytics. “We’re estimating at about 0 million, and that’s simply based on the duration of the storm, the timing of the storm and the population centers that are impacted.”

Others estimate the cost may be closer to $1 billion, considering the lost business, wages and taxes, and snow removal costs. According to a new report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer, in the past 12 years, every inch of snow cost New York City an average of $1.8 million to remove. From 2003 through 2014, the city spent $663.2 million just to clear the snow. Lighter snowfall actually takes a greater toll per-inch. “It’s a lot more expensive on a per-inch basis when we get a little snow because we have startup costs and we have fixed costs. We have to have plows and salt,” Stringer said. As a result, the city saw 55.5 inches of snow in 2003 and paid $740,000 per inch in cleanup costs, while the city had 6.8 inches of snow in 2012 and paid $4 million per inch.

In a press conference on Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shrugged off the financial implications of preparations for and recovery from Juno, calling it one of the “costs of doing business.” He explained, “We factor that in—things like snow removal, salt purchases, overtime for crew to handle storms, these are factored in the budget and this was not exceptional to that process.”

The cost of overpreparation is hefty, however, and it primarily falls upon the public. A one-day storm in Massachusetts costs the state economy about $265 million, while the total cost in New York is around $700 million, according to the Boston Globe. A significant portion of that is due to lost wages for hourly workers, who tend to be hit the worst by snow-related shutdowns.

Travel cancellations have a similar impact.

buy singulair online healthdirectionsinc.com/flash/swf/singulair.html no prescription pharmacy

According to research firm masFlight, it costs an airline about ,000 to cancel a typical domestic flight on a full-size jet, but the total tab for all the passengers who were supposed to be on board is about ,000, due to the additional costs of lodging and meals.

buy stromectol online healthdirectionsinc.com/flash/swf/stromectol.html no prescription pharmacy

More than 4,700 flights were cancelled Tuesday after about 2,800 on Monday ahead of the storm, CNN reported. Amtrak also suspended service between New York and Boston because of the weather.

Insurers Will Be Found Not Guilty of Fraud in Sandy Payouts, Expert Says

Posted on by

Insurers will be vindicated of accusations of fraud for rejecting flood damage claims made by Superstorm Sandy victims, an insurance industry expert predicts.

New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has opened an investigation into accusations against insurers Wright National Flood Insurance Co., units of Travelers Cos. and Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., which contract with the government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), of rejecting property flood damage claims of Sandy victims based on falsified engineering reports, Bloomberg reported this week.

Called a Write Your Own program (WYO), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allows participating property and casualty insurers to write and service the Standard Flood Insurance Policy in their own names.

Under the WYO program, insurers receive an expense allowance for policies written and claims processed while the federal government retains responsibility for underwriting losses.

The WYO Program operates as part of the NFIP, and is subject to its rules and regulations, according to FEMA, which oversees the flood insurance program.

“I am confident that the attorney general will be satisfied that insurers involved with the Write Your Own program were operating in a manner consistent with NFIP guidelines,” said Robert P. Hartwig, Ph.D., president of the Insurance Information Institute.

buy biaxin online www.tvaxbiomedical.com/scripts/css/biaxin.html no prescription pharmacy

Lawsuits in federal court accuse the insurers of colluding with engineering firms and others to deny or reduce damage payouts based on fraudulent reports. Schneiderman is investigating whether any crimes were committed. According to The Hartford Courant, more than 1,000 lawsuits are involved, alleging that homeowners were underpaid by insurance companies. Attorneys said insurers accepted altered engineering reports in a “peer review” process.

Insurers point out that the property disputes involve only about 1% of all flood claims and that the peer-review process is common practice—a quality control measure to make sure the federal government doesn’t overpay on flood claims.

Regarding the lawsuits that have been filed, Hartwig said, “I am equally confident that the evidence will indicate once again that insurers were operating in a manner consistent with NFIP guidelines.”

He explained that the lawsuits lodged against insurers alleging that certain insurers and firms hired to perform engineering analyses on flood-damaged properties were acting together to reduce or deny claims, “reflect a fundamental  misunderstanding of how the NFIP WYO program works. Engineering firms routinely and appropriately use a peer review process to review work performed. Occasionally, that process leads to additional opinions being reflected in an engineering report, which can thus impact the dollar amount received by claimants. This is part of a routine and necessary quality-control process.”

Hartwig said that this process is “no different than peer review in other technical and scientific disciplines. Using medicine as an example, test results are routinely reviewed by more than one medical professional before a diagnosis and course of treatments are rendered.”

Moreover, he added, insurers and the engineering firms hired are not financially motivated “to pay claimants anything other than a fair and accurate assessment of the losses compensable under the NFIP policy purchased. Insurers that consistently underpay or overpay claims can be removed from the program by the NFIP/FEMA.”

The New Reality of Weather Risk

Posted on by

What do you do when you are responsible for the safety of town, county or state residents and forecasts call for drastic weather conditions? Risk professionals can come under criticism if they are overly cautious, yet under-reacting can mean lives are at stake.

Take the current situation here in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Predictions called for one- to three-feet of snow and blizzard conditions over a wide swath of the tri-state area and states of emergency were declared. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York yesterday called for a full travel ban in 13 counties, beginning at 11:00 p.m. Those breaking the ban were subject to fines of up to $300, he said.

“With forecasts showing a potentially historic blizzard for Long Island, New York City, and parts of the Hudson Valley, we are preparing for the worst and I urge all New Yorkers to do the same – take this storm seriously and put safety first,” Gov. Cuomo said.

In actuality, however, the storm moved east and north, driving the brunt of the heavy snow and blizzard conditions through Long Island, New York and north through Connecticut and towards Boston.

Today at 7:30 a.m. the travel ban was lifted in most areas of New York and it was announced that public transportation would resume on a weekend schedule. Travel is also permitted in New Jersey and parts of Connecticut. But with snowfall much less than anticipated in many areas, some are questioning the travel ban. Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy, however, credited the travel ban and people’s cooperation, for the low number of automobile accidents during the storm—only 15 in the entire state.

“I would rather lean towards safety, because I have seen the consequences the other way, and it gets very frightening very quickly,” Cuomo told the media this morning. He noted, “Recently in New York we weren’t prepared in Buffalo.” In November, more than six feet of snow was dumped on Buffalo, claiming four lives. He also pointed out that the impacts of Hurricane Irene were underestimated. The belief was that most damage would occur in coastal areas, when the reality was that most destruction happened upstate.

This dilemma is widespread, from hurricanes to thunderstorms to wildfires. How far does a state’s governor go when preparing for an emergency? As Cuomo and many others have said, the responsible action is to put safety first.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defended the decision to shut down the city in a press conference today. “We prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” he said, adding that the good news is that “the people of the city understood how serious this was.” The travel ban kept people safe and allowed the sanitation department—2,400 workers—to more easily clear the roads and deal with the storm’s aftermath, he said.

Asked if he is concerned that New Yorkers won’t take precautions next time, as was the case with Superstorm Sandy, de Blasio said he is not. “The world has changed a lot in the last few years. Point one: we are going to be very forceful in our messages to people when we sense danger. This is what you saw in the last 48 hours—there is no guarantee what you will get with the weather.”

In the future, he said, “I guarantee, if we ever get to the point in any crisis where we say the word ‘evacuate’ it’s going to be very forceful. It’s going to be constantly reiterated and we are going to put a lot of muscle into that.”

Another reality, he said, is that “Extreme weather is becoming much more common” as we have seen extreme weather events “over and over again, in a kind of progression that was unimaginable just a few years ago. People understand it. They understand that global warming is one of the causes and they understand the vulnerability and that we have to look at things differently. That is one of the reasons they took last night so seriously and acted accordingly.”