The rate of COVID-19 infections isn’t the only thing that’s increased over the past couple of months. The number of telecommuters and children online working and playing from home is at a scale that’s hard to quantify. As a parent, limits on screen time go out the window when trying to balance work and homeschooling. Hackers with too much time on their hands know that kids are online, too, and are taking advantage of this. Take our recent experience.
My older son’s penchant for Roblox, the global online game platform that lets users build and create virtual worlds, has been reinvigorated and with that has come a real-life lesson in cybersecurity. The other day he tried to log on only to find that his account had been compromised, and not two days later the same thing happened to his younger brother. After multiple emails with Roblox support, one account has been restored, minus a pet unicorn.
We’ve since learned that in Roblox you need a verified email address so you can turn on two-factor authentication, which can provide an extra layer of security for the account. As with all online systems, it’s a good idea to check privacy settings regularly. Beware, too, of COVID-19 email and phishing scams that are targeting streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.
For businesses, too, the cybersecurity threat is amplified by the sheer volume of employees working from home. As our cover story highlights, the incidence of ransomware has become more prevalent and hackers are growing more sophisticated and targeted in where and how they launch their attacks. Specialist insurer Beazley PLC recently reported a 131% increase in ransomware attack notifications against its clients in 2019, and an exponential increase in the sums being demanded.
Fortunately, there are risk management steps businesses can take to minimize the impact of such attacks, as we report. Anti-virus and backup systems are part of the answer, but working with an insurer to mitigate vulnerabilities and having a cyber liability policy in place that provides coverage for ransomware payments are increasingly valuable defenses in the cybersecurity toolbox.
This time last year at the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. annual conference in Boston, the usual stream of brokers, insurers, and cyber and technology consultants were touting their various coverages and services to help organizations protect themselves against rising cyber risks. Yet in one-on-one meetings with executives it was clear that take-up of cyber coverage still wasn’t anywhere near the market growth that has been projected.
If there is an upside to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic it is that perhaps risk managers will finally see the justification for the cyber insurance coverage that insurers have long been pedaling. So long as insurers have enough capital to handle the rising risk.
For risk managers, the hefty responsibility to manage the surging cyber risk that a virtual workforce and operation presents is a burden that can be made more manageable with insurance — provided that coverage is affordable and actually indemnifies them for the losses they face.
More insurance and risk management news on the coronavirus crisis here.
