Advisen Ltd.

NEW YORK— June 7, 2018 – Arthur J. Gallagher’s Adam Cottini received the Cyber Risk Champion of the Year award at Advisen’s fifth annual Cyber Risk Awards event. INSUREtrust’s Christiaan Durdaller, AXIS Insurance’s Dan Trueman, and AIG’s Tracy Grella were each named Cyber Risk Industry Person of the Year in the USA, London, and International markets respectively.

Winning companies – determined by People’s Choice voting – included Beazley as Insurer of the Year and Willis Towers Watson as Broker of the Year.

Over 400 P&C Professionals who care about Cyber Risk attended this gala awards dinner emceed by Jeremy Gittler of XL Catlin, and Shannon Groeber of JLT Specialty USA, Scott Kannry of Axio Global, Graeme Newman of CFC Underwriting, and Jon Laux of Aon.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/about/press-releases/2018-cyber-risk-award-winners-announced/

New for 2018, Advisen will host a half-day conference, focusing on the phenomenon of big, nasty claims in the casualty sector.

Mass torts and class actions with the potential to exceed $100 million take years to settle, tax corporate resources disproportionately, and often bring out the liability sharks.

Aimed at risk managers and claims professionals along with carriers, brokers, and attorneys, this inaugural event seeks to help all parties keep the sharks at bay.

For more info and registration about this upcoming event, visit the link below:

CHICAGO—There is “no honor amongst thieves” when it comes to ransomware.

During a panel on claims developments here at Advisen’s Cyber Risk Insights Conference, CNA Insurance cyber industry leader Brian Robb said ransomware attacks have evolved. At the start of the ransomware trend, organizations that paid up would receive encryption keys to get data back.

Now, said Robb, there have been situations in which the thieves only returned a partial encryption key following payment, and then asked for more cryptocurrency.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/ransomware-evolves-to-affect-severity-bi-remains-complicated/

Chad Hemenway, Ransomware evolves to affect severity; BI remains ‘complicated’ (May 24, 2018).

A deeply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that employers may include arbitration clauses in employment contracts requiring employees to settle disputes individually rather than joining together to fight wage-and-hour violations.

Plaintiffs in the cases argued that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) supersedes the 1925 Federal Arbitrations Act. The 1935 NLRA allows employees “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively . . . , and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection” and the National Labor Relations Board ruled in 2012 that the NLRA nullified the earlier law.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/us-supreme-court-upholds-arbitration-in-employee-contracts/

Erin Ayers, US Supreme Court upholds arbitration in employee contracts (May 22, 2018).

The first quarter of 2018 showed either average decreases or flat prices for cyber insurance coverage, according to recent survey from the broker community.

Marsh, in its Global Insurance Market Index, found renewal prices for cyber in the United States to be trending downward in the fourth quarter out of the last five quarters. The average decrease of 1.7 percent comes after 0.6 percent rise in the last quarter of 2017, down from a high of an average 20 percent on renewal in the second quarter of 2015.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/amid-flat-or-lower-cyber-prices-brokers-see-demand-for-coverage-soar/

Erin Ayers, Amid flat or lower cyber prices, brokers see demand for coverage soar (May 21, 2018).

Telemedicine, the use of telecommunication and information technology to provide clinical healthcare from a distance, has revolutionized the delivery of healthcare services in recent years. However, with great technical advances come a wider spectrum of cyber threats, including telemedicine security risks.

While external threats coming from malicious actors are widely acknowledged, healthcare service providers must also pay attention to other sources of threats including employee error, unintentional disclosure, and insider threat.

In addressing telemedicine security risks, it is important to look for policies that combine the appropriate mix of professional liability, general liability and privacy and network security (cyber liability).

Visit https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/04/26/telemedicine-security-risks-cyber/ to learn more and download the full infographic.

Claims data is not enough to understand cyber risks – turning to the technology and security side can present the risk in a clearer light with the use of a wider range of data sources.

Based on Symantec’s 2018 Internet Security Threat Report, there are many considerations and questions to ask regarding technology and security that can help prevent a cyber attack. The aim is to provide a summary of current vulnerabilities, likelihood of being attacked, and ways to avoid attack.

Visit https://www.advisenltd.com/media/infographics/keeping-data-systems-safe/ to learn more and download the full infographic.

With summer approaching in the US – and after a particularly LONG winter – I’ve been dreaming of the warm sun and some sand in my toes! Which naturally got me thinking about the hospitality industry and what types of losses these service-oriented organizations experience.

As one might expect, the hospitality industry faces a broad spectrum of risks. Some of the larger losses involve lawsuits that become class actions, which continue over a number of years. We dug into Advisen’s loss data to see who, what, and where some of these losses are occurring.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/blog/hospitality-travel-tourism/hospitality-losses-2011-2017/

Charlene Farside. (May 2018). Notable Hospitality Losses: 2011 – 2017 [Blog].

June 12, 2018 11:00 AM EDT

Mass torts and class actions with the potential to exceed $100 million are a constant challenge to a business and its insurers. Carriers, lawyers and other advisors need exceptional skills to manage these claims for clients.

For more info and registration of this upcoming webinar, visit https://www.advisenltd.com/media/webinars/big-nasty-claims-casualty-large-loss-trends/

Romaine lettuce, airbags, mobile phone batteries – these are just a few of the prominent product recalls that have occurred in recent years, driving businesses to become more prepared for the financial and reputational risks associated with defective, mislabeled, or otherwise problematic products.

Heightened attention from consumer groups and federal regulators mean information about product recalls spreads more quickly and authorities become involved in detecting problems sooner. The spike in product recalls also means that more businesses, particularly in the food and beverage industry, are looking for insurance solutions.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/romaine-lettuce-e-coli-scare-latest-case-driving-product-recall-insurance-interest/

Erin Ayers, Romaine lettuce E. coli scare latest case driving product recall insurance interest (May 14, 2018).

On Tuesday, October 30 Advisen will host a webinar that examines the D&O claims trends for the third quarter of 2018. Advisen’s Jim Blinn and a panel of experts will discuss the frequency and severity of securities suits in Q3 2018 and share their insights on emerging trends on securities litigation.

This is a free, one-hour webinar

For more info and registration of this webinar, visit https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/10/30/quarterly-claims-trends-q3-2018/

Eighty percent of mid- to large-size companies have some degree of multinational exposure, according to a recent study conducted by The Hartford. How can these firms mitigate risks that come with being a multinational company?

What sophisticated multinational insurance solutions are available for the middle market? Find out in The Hartford’s and Advisen’s free, 6-page paper Structuring Multinational Insurance Programs for the Middle Market.

Read more https://www.advisenltd.com/resources/white-papers/structuring-multinational-insurance/

This story is an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Media White Papers.

Amid the changing cyber-threat landscape, most businesses still believe that lawyers are better equipped to deal with high-stakes and high-stress scenarios involving cyber incident management.

What are the drawbacks of lawyer-led cyber claim project management? Why should companies take a situational approach to cyber claim management instead of following a one-size-fits-all model? Find out in CyberScout’s and Advisen’s free, 6-page paper Myth Busting Cyber Claims: There is more than one way to manage a cyber claim.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/white-papers/cyber-claims-myth-busting/

This story is an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Media White Papers.

Just a couple of years ago Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were virtually unknown to most people. To the extent people were aware of them at all, they were seen largely as a mysterious form of money preferred for shady transactions. In the past year, Bitcoin has made headlines as an investment vehicle, though a highly volatile one. A single bitcoin was trading at nearly $20,000 in December, 2017 before plummeting to about $7,000 in February. As of April 25th, it was trading at $8,873.

Though derided by some experts as a bubble, or even a fraud, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have caught the attention of Wall Street. Cryptocurrency funds have been launched and cryptocurrency futures are now traded. Respected financial market analysts now follow the cryptocurrency market.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/blog/2018/04/28/liability-risks-icos/

Dave Bradford. (2018, April 28). Liability Risks of ICOs [Blog].

White-hat hackers joined the white coats in a simulation of a hacked medical device during this year’s RSA Conference in an effort to demonstrate the very real cyber risk faced by healthcare organizations in securing medical devices.

“Our dependence on connected technology is growing much faster than our ability to secure it,” said Josh Corman, chief security officer and founder of cybersecurity firm PTC.

“Nothing’s going to change until someone dies, so we’re going to do what any good, self-respecting hackers would do and we killed people,” said Corman.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/04/23/hacked-medical-device-bits-bytes-meet-flesh-blood/

Erin Ayers, Hacked medical device: ‘where bits and bytes meet flesh and blood’ (April 23, 2018).

Unemployment is down and fiscal year-end statistics released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission revealed a drop in total charges, but there remain some troubling trends for employment practices liability underwriters.

“Lower unemployment and a decrease in EEOC charges should be good things—and they are—but there are several underlying dynamics that are not so great,” Michael Schraer, Chubb’s employment practices and not-for-profit product manager told Advisen from the RIMS Annual Conference here.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/04/18/underlying-trends-keeping-epl-underwriters-busy/

Chad Hemenway, Underlying trends keeping EPL underwriters busy (April 18, 2018).

In recent years, there have been no shortage of cyber-related headlines. The emergence of ransomware, concerns over the systemic impact of cyber attacks, and various other emerging risks have monopolized much of the conversation around cyber risk.  But a flurry of recent high-profile credit card breaches begged the question as to whether cyber risk has come full circle. Is the credit card breach back? Have credit card breaches ever really gone away?

To get a better understanding of trends surrounding credit card breaches that occurred with malicious intent, Advisen tapped into its cyber loss database in search of answers.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/04/16/advisen-data-spotlight-credit-card-breach-back-baby/