Liability Risks of ICOs

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].

This blog post in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Ltd. Blog Page.

Hacked Medical Device: ‘Where Bits and Bytes Meet Flesh and Blood’

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).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

Underlying Trends Keeping EPL Underwriters Busy

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).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

Advisen Data Spotlight: The Credit Card Breach is Back, Baby! (Or is it?)

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/

Josh Bradford, Advisen Data Spotlight: The credit card breach is back, baby! (Or is it?) (April 16, 2018).

Uber Drivers Are Not Employees, Penn. Court Rules

Uber drivers are not employees, according to a Pennsylvania court, in a ruling on whether ride-hailing app drivers can be eligible for minimum wages and overtime under state and federal laws.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted Uber summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by three drivers who argued that spending more than 40 hours “online” or available to pick up riders should qualify them for overtime. The plaintiffs worked as part of Uber’s UberBLACK, or limousine services, and also own their own limo services.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/04/13/uber-drivers-not-employees-penn-court-rules/

Erin Ayers, Uber drivers are not employees, Penn. court rules (April 13, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

Conference Commentary: How AIG’s Duperreault Stole the Show with ‘Calm, Cool, Collected Confidence’

We knew AIG CEO Brian Duperreault was a “good get” for Advisen’s recent Casualty Insights Conference, though we did not anticipate how forthcoming he’d be.

Thanks go to stalwart advisory board member Tony DeFelice of Aon—with an assist from Joe Rego, president of Aon Bermuda—for spending the time to entice the president and CEO of AIG to sit in front of 400 P&C executives and risk managers  and talk about the casualty business and his philosophies for AIG.

“We thought, with Brian’s recent appointment as AIG CEO, and since AIG is such a large player in the  casualty arena, it would be ideal to get Brian to participate in this event,” said DeFelice, managing director and Casualty Practice leader at Aon. “He is one of the few icons in the industry.”

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/04/11/conference-commentary-aigs-duperreault-stole-show-calm-cool-collected-confidence/

Chad Hemenway, Conference Commentary: How AIG’s Duperreault stole the show with ‘calm, cool, collected confidence’ (April 11, 2018).

Structuring Multinational Insurance Programs for the Middle Market

Wednesday, May 2 at 11am EDT

The world has become a much smaller place and globalization is now a necessity for many small and mid-sized companies to remain competitive. For companies that do business in more than one country, every border presents a unique set of issues and challenges. Thus, insurance programs must be designed to respond in a way that is consistent with a company’s objectives no matter where in the world an exposure exists or a loss may occur. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

On May 2 at 11 AM Eastern, join The Hartford’s Alfred Bergbauer, Lockton’s Bruce Cohen, and Advisen’s Josh Bradford as they discuss sophisticated multinational insurance solutions which were once reserved for the largest companies but are now available for the middle market.

This free, one-hour webinar is sponsored by The Hartford.

For more info and registration of this upcoming webinar, visit https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/05/02/structuring-multinational-insurance-programs-middle-market/

Advisen Ltd. May 2018. Structuring Multinational Insurance Programs for the Middle Market [Webinar].

The Future of Cyber Risk Modeling

April 24, 2018 at 11am EDT

Effectively managing and modeling cyber risk can make all the difference for insurers, reinsurers, and brokers. As cyber insurance expands and evolves, the insurance industry must make well-informed underwriting decisions to meet both market demand and ensure financial success. From pricing more accurately to managing cyber aggregation, harnessing data analytics and modeling can usher the insurance industry into the future of cyber risk.

For more info and registration of this upcoming webinar, visit https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/04/24/the-future-of-cyber-risk-modeling/

Advisen Ltd. April 2018. The Future of Cyber Risk Modeling [Webinar].

‘You Can Do Well In This Business If You Do It Intelligently’: AIG’s Duperreault

NEW YORK CITY — The casualty insurance business can be tough and it – and the industry that takes it on – should be treated with respect, according to Brian Duperreault, president and CEO of American International Group (AIG), who gave the keynote speech here at Advisen’s Casualty Insights Conference on March 29.

“I’ve been involved in large casualty business for 30+ years. It can be good business. But it can be one of the most dangerous risks you can take on in the world,” said Duperreault, who was questioned by Tony DeFelice, managing director and Casualty Practice leader at Aon, after spending about eight months enticing the CEO to join the conference.

“A lot can go wrong. You make a mistake in large casualty business and it’s a huge loss. It should be treated that way,” continued Duperreault.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/04/02/can-well-business-intelligently-aigs-duperreault/

Erin Ayers, ‘You can do well in this business if you do it intelligently’: AIG’s Duperreault (April 2, 2018).

US Officials Charge Nine Iranians with Cyber Theft

US officials announced criminal charges on March 23 against nine Iranian individuals in connection with a massive cyber theft campaign that targeted universities, government entities, and businesses across the globe.

The US Justice Department accused the nine Iranians of working under the cover of an organization called the Mabna Institute to steal intellectual property, research, and other data on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an intelligence-gathering entity within the Iranian government

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/03/26/us-officials-charge-nine-iranians-cyber-theft/

Erin Ayers, US officials charge nine Iranians with cyber theft (March 26, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

More ‘Wow’ Moments Predicted for Global Insurance M&A

2017 brought the first “uncertainty” to global insurance mergers and acquisitions and very little activity – but also offered evidence that things might change in 2018, according to a new report from Ernst & Young.

“2017 was not a stellar year for insurance M&A in terms of the overall number or value of deals — with both being broadly comparable to 2016,” E&Y said in its report, adding that 2017 included the fewest deals since 2010.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/03/23/wow-moments-predicted-global-insurance-ma/

Erin Ayers, More ‘wow’ moments predicted for global insurance M&A (March 23, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Professional Front Page News.

Insurance Industry Lagging Behind in Using IoT Data

The insurance industry trails other sectors in effectively harnessing new data sources such as the Internet of Things, or IoT,  and may have a harder time keeping pace with customer demand and achieving competitive advantage, according to a recent survey from LexisNexis.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2018/03/22/insurance-industry-lagging-behind-using-iot-data/

Erin Ayers, Insurance industry lagging behind in using IoT data (March 22, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Cyber Front Page News.