Selective Insurance Social
  • Business
  • Auto
  • Home
  • Digital Toolbox
    • LinkedIn Best Practices
  • Flood
    • Hurricane Preparedness
  • Infographics
  • Prep Guides
    • Coronavirus Information
    • Spring Maintenance Guide
    • Fire Prevention & Safety
    • Winter Preparation For Your Home
    • Winter Preparation For Your Business
    • Winter Preparation For Your Vehicle
    • Hurricane Preparation

Insure your business

Every business faces a range of risks. Find the answers you need to protect your business the right way.

PROTECTING YOUR BUSINESS FROM CYBERSECURITY BREACHES

5/29/2018

 
Picture
Most people see cybersecurity as something that governments and corporations have to worry about.  The truth is, however, businesses of all sizes are at risk of a cybersecurity breach.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, 40% of cyber attacks target businesses with fewer than 500 employees. In addition, about one in five small and midsize businesses reported a cyber attack over a two-year period.  Computer crime has now bypassed illegal drugs as the country’s number-one criminal money maker, making it in every business owner’s best interest to safeguard their organization as much as possible.
​
Here are five common questions business owners and nonprofit organizations face about cybersecurity breaches:

What types of breaches are possible?
Businesses are seeing the full gambit of cyber attacks, ranging from man-in-the-middle-schemes to classic malware and phishing attacks. In most cases, the criminals are after credit card and banking information. However, a recent FBI report on identity theft noted that personnel records are becoming a growing area of concern.

Rather than attack a business directly, criminals break into a system and steal employee personal information. Then they use it to create “ghost identities.” As these attacks may not be recognized for some time after they’ve occurred, it can be difficult for authorities to combat them. Seasonal businesses are especially vulnerable to this type of attack, as fluctuations in employee numbers can make it difficult to establish links between victims.

How much could cyber attacks cost a business?
Estimates of what a cyber attack can cost a business vary greatly. At a minimum, a small retail establishment or seasonal business might lose $38,000 to $55,000 due to an attack. This number includes lost productivity and the cost of paying for professional expertise to fix the security breach. This does not include damages to victims, fines and legal fees which could be exorbitant and reach the millions. 

For larger businesses, the losses are not just financial in nature and significant in size. Customer loss of confidence in the company and system downtime only add to the problems of establishing the actual cost of an attack.

Do hackers target small businesses?
Hacks on small business have become so frequent that Congress is considering legislation to help establish guidelines and resources to help small business owners protect themselves.

Criminals consider small and mid-sized businesses to be softer targets than large companies. Most entrepreneurs and smaller companies don’t have the resources to maintain full-time information technology personnel, or update and monitor their security constantly to combat the latest threats.

What can you do to protect yourself?
​

While cybersecurity is a never-ending war of measures and countermeasures, you can take some basic steps as a business owner to protect yourself from cyber breaches. Steven Weisman, senior lecturer at Bentley University, makes these suggestions:
​
  • Engage the assistance of security professionals. It costs less to harden your system than to recover from an attack.
  • Install proper firewalls.
  • Keep your security software up to date.
  • Provide employee access to sensitive information only on a need-to-know basis.
  • Train employees in proper security procedures.
  • Encrypt all data.
  • Do not permit unauthorized devices to be plugged into office computers.
  • Limit internet access on your computer systems.
  • When replacing computers and other electronic devices, make sure all hard drives have been completely cleaned of information.
​How can you recover?
​After you have suffered a security breach, all you can do is pay for the damages and call in professionals to help recover your system. However, it is possible to protect yourself before any breach occurs.

No system is impervious to attack, so take the crucial steps required to be prepared ahead of time.

SPEAK WITH A LOCAL INDEPENDENT AGENT

Selective offers our businesses more than just insurance. With additional services to help prevent and respond to data breaches and cyber events, businesses can reduce their risk. If your business is affected, Selective offers CyCurity® cyber liability insurance to mitigate loss and help your business recover. Contact your local Selective agent to learn more. Don’t have a Selective agent? Click below to search for an agent in your area.
FIND AN AGENT

ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES DRIVING DISTRACTED?

5/15/2018

 
Multi-tasking is a myth.  The human brain cannot actually perform two functions at the same time.

Instead, it switches from one task to other very quickly. Even though the change may only take milliseconds, it takes the brain time to come up to speed on the new task.

What does this have to do with driving? It's simple. Trying to do more than one thing while behind the wheel of an automobile means you will perform neither very well. Even worse, it means that your reaction time in an emergency situation will be increased dramatically.

Talking on a cell phone (hands-free or not) increases your risk of being in an accident by a factor of four.
​
Distracted driving is now the number-one cause of deaths on the job. 

Every employer that has employees on the road should have a distracted-driving policy in place — and it should be understood and enforced.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management: “Organizations that fail to create and enforce policies prohibiting employees from using their phones while driving put workers in jeopardy and increase employer liability.”

Here are two key questions to help you create – and enforce – a policy within your company:
How does a distracted-driving policy help?
A distracted-driving policy is a part of both a company’s overall safety program and a part of its safe driving program. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), its purpose is threefold:
  1. To save lives and to reduce the risk of life-altering injuries within your workforce.
  2. To protect your organization’s human resources and financial assets.
  3. To guard against potential company and personal liabilities associated with crashes involving employees’ driving on company business.

What should a distracted-driving policy include?
Your distracted-driving policy should spell out in clear language what an employee is and is not allowed to do while operating a vehicle on company business. Whether they are in their personal vehicle or a company car doesn’t make a difference. If they are conducting business on behalf of your company, the company is liable. Your policy should also lay out specifically the disciplinary actions the employee could face for breaking the policy.

Your distracted-driving policy should exist in printed form. Each employee who might operate any vehicle while on company time should be required to read and sign that they received and understand the policy.

They should then be given a copy of the form to keep, with the original placed in their file.

The NSC has a general template available that can provide you with a starting point for formatting your policy. Some key factors to include are:
  • Employees should not use mobile phones (hands-free or not) while operating a vehicle.
  • Employees should not initiate or respond to calls, texts or emails while driving.
  • Employees should find a safe place to park the vehicle before initiating or responding to any calls, texts or emails.
Protect yourself and those who work for you. Take distracted driving seriously. Develop a solid distracted-driving policy and enforce it.


    Speak with an Agent
    888-268-0037 
Picture
© 2020 Selective Insurance Group, Inc.
User Agreement
​Community Guidelines
​
AdChoices
CCPA Request 
Privacy
Contact
Visit our main web site at: selective.com or follow us:

© 2020 Selective Ins. Group, Inc., Branchville, NJ. Products vary by jurisdiction, terms, and conditions and are provided by Selective Ins. Co. of America and its insurer affiliates.
Details at selective.com/about/affiliated-insurers.aspx
Picture
Picture
  • Business
  • Auto
  • Home
  • Digital Toolbox
    • LinkedIn Best Practices
  • Flood
    • Hurricane Preparedness
  • Infographics
  • Prep Guides
    • Coronavirus Information
    • Spring Maintenance Guide
    • Fire Prevention & Safety
    • Winter Preparation For Your Home
    • Winter Preparation For Your Business
    • Winter Preparation For Your Vehicle
    • Hurricane Preparation