In today’s rapidly changing, 'disruption' economy it can be tough to discern whether you are infringing on another’s intellectual property as processes are constantly improving and changing. Finding out the hard way can be a costly mistake. According to the American Intellectual Property Law Association, intellectual property lawsuits cost an average of $4.4 million between defense costs and potential damages. This is problematic as, chances are, every company uses intellectual property at some point in their operations or supply chain and may not even realize it. It should then be alarming that coverage for intellectual property infringement is specifically excluded in the Personal and Advertising Injury part of the Commercial General Liability Policy. Companies are then left with a severe, uninsured exposure that they may not even know they have.
Rise of the Robo-Broker
Over the past couple years, we have seen the advent of the robo-advisor in the financial services industry. Companies like Betterment or Advizr use software to automate the financial planning and advice they provide for customers. The benefit is clear: automation allows the company to operate with less overhead and then passes those savings along to the customer. Naturally, companies are trying to replicate this model in the insurance industry with robo-brokers but will that be a good thing for business owners?
Cyber Threats from Social Engineering
Today, one of our staff received an email from my email address stating that I needed her to send a wire transfer, and was she available to do so. We have spent hours discussing cyber threats to our company and our clients, and our staff is trained to be aware of suspicious emails, but in this case, the email address sending it was not just similar to my email address, but it was my actual email address! Ultimately, our staff member was able to determine that the email was fraudulent and no harm was done, thanks in part to our policies and procedures.