Category: Cyber Risks

A New Threat & Maybe A Nasty Phone Bill

 

One of our Unitas Partner Insurers, QBE, has recently reported on a new threat to hit business. Phone Phreaking is a fraud where commercial phone systems are hacked in order to place outbound calls to premium-rate numbers. These numbers are controlled by the fraudsters themselves and can be charged at extortionate rates.

It is an attractive scam to the criminals; it’s carried out remotely, difficult to prevent and unlikely to be detected until a large phone bill arrives.

Although still a relatively new crime, Phone Phreaking is already estimated to cost UK businesses over £1bn per year, with the average cost of a UK attack thought to be around £10,000. Currently there is no silver bullet for preventing this fraud, save investing in an expensive software solution.

QBE provides up to £50,000 cover for Phone Phreaking under their Cyber & Data Security policy.

If you have any concerns please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can look at the options available to insure your business against these types of losses.

Mike Martin

Group Director

 

mike.martin@tldallas.com

TL Dallas attends Cyber Security Breakfast Seminar

At TL Dallas, more and more of our clients are seeking to insure their businesses against a cyber-attack. With so much technological advancement in recent years, cyber security is increasingly becoming a priority for all businesses, irrespective of their field.

In recognition of this, we recently attended a cyber security breakfast seminar, hosted by TheBusinessDesk.com, to help us gain valuable insights into how we can potentially better protect our clients in this area.

The panellists were from a range of backgrounds, from fraud specialists to senior legal associates, meaning that delegates were able to gain a wide variety of perspectives on a single issue.

The event kicked off with an opening speech, before the floor was opened up to all attendees. Unlike other cyber security discussions that we have attended, this one focused on the steps that businesses can take to protect themselves from a breach, rather than focusing on recovering from a breach itself. 

The panellists stressed the need to adopt a ‘belt and braces’ approach, by not only putting policies in place for when a breach does occur, but also by embedding structures within the business to prevent an attack from occurring in the first place.

Attending this event further underlined the importance for us as brokers of educating businesses that insurance isn’t there simply to cover their tangible assets. With cyber attacks becoming increasingly common, we want to stress the importance of taking out cyber insurance, particularly as secure online data is the backbone of most businesses.

At TL Dallas, we can help you to protect your company’s insurance and reputation, by providing tailored cyber insurance for your business. Our team can cross-benchmark premiums and compare policy wordings, ensuring that you receive the most suitable cover.

To find out more information, call one of our Cyber Risks experts on 01274 465500, or email info@tldallas.com.