We are grateful to the rapidly-growing number of Cyberinquirer readers who continue to submit substantive content for publication. This truly is an industry blog, and we strive to present alternative points of view from all quarters. 

The following article was authored by Gregg A. Rapoport, Esq., and David Lam, CISSP, CPP. Attorney Rapoport has represented policyholders in coverage litigation for over 20 years as part of a broad business litigation practice based in Pasadena, California. Mr. Lam is vice president of the Los Angeles Information Systems Security Association and has over 20 years of experience as an IT and information security professional and author. This article was first published by RIMS, and we appreciate Messrs. Rapoport and Lam offering it for republication here.

Rick Bortnick

As they confront the sobering question of whether their networks and the data they carry are fully secure, today’s “C-level” executives are becoming fluent in once-esoteric information security terms. Many have reached the conclusion that no matter the size of their IT and security budgets, there is no foolproof system for securing the confidentiality, integrity and availability of their data. Company networks remain vulnerable to attacks even if they adhere to industry best practices and run best-of-breed firewalls.

To address these security challenges, companies are relying on their risk managers to evaluate the applicability of existing insurance coverage to data breach incidents, and to assess the value of transferring some of the uncovered financial risk to one of the carriers now offering cyber-risk insurance policies. As the market for these products matures, premiums have come down significantly and policy limits have increased.

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The following article, written by reknowned London Market underwriter Rick Welsh, was first published in the November 2011 Data Guidance newsletter. A shout out to Rick for passing it on to us for republication.

Rick Bortnick

Today, no company – even with comprehensive privacy policies and practices – can be safe from data breaches. Can companies effectively transfer the risk (and cost) of data breaches by way of insurance? What costs should the companies consider? Almost every reference to the cost of data breaches or ‘cyber crime’ identifies the actual cost of the breach notification as its common currency. In Part One of this analysis, Rick Welsh, Cyber Underwriting Director at ANV, explores this metric’s limitations and the true exposure and cost of data breaches.

The well-regarded Ponemon Institute is constantly measuring the cost of a data breach and is commonly referenced by many to express the rising cost of data breaches. The second annual ‘Cost of Cyber Crime Study’ issued by the Ponemon Institute in August 2011, found that the median annualised cost of cyber crime for the 50 companies in the study was $5.9 million, with a range being between $1.5 million to $36.5 million. The annualised average was up 56% from the previous year’s study.

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As regular Cyberinquirer readers know, on October 12, 2011, the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance published “suggested” Guidance on public companies’ disclosures of their cyber risks and exposures. I published a personal perspective on the implications of the Guidance in an October 29, 2011 post (here). Since then, our friend John Doernberg of William Gallagher Associates in Boston has written an excellent, thoughtful article which adopts a more technical approach. As many of you may know, John is a Vice President at William Gallagher and focuses on privacy, information security and risk management issues. Before becoming an insurance broker in 1995, John practiced law at leading firms in New York and Boston. The following article first appeared at John’s own site, http://blog.wgains.com/?s=Doernberg, and is being republished here with his permission. Thanks John!

Rick Bortnick

Increased corporate reliance on computer networks and electronic data has brought a corresponding increase in risks associated with breaches of their security. Such breaches have become more frequent and severe. With these Guidelines, the Division has indicated that public companies and their advisors should focus greater attention on how disclosure obligations under the federal securities laws may be affected by the potential financial and operational impact of cybersecurity breaches.

The Guidelines note that cybersecurity breaches (generically referred to as cyber incidents) can be malicious (cyber-attacks) or unintentional. The Guidelines provide something of a rogue’s gallery of cyber malice: the gaining of unauthorized access to steal or corrupt sensitive data or to disrupt operations, denial of service attacks, sophisticated electronic circumvention of network security, and social engineering techniques such as phishing to extract passwords or other information that will enable the gaining of access.

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In a prior post (here), we discussed the frequency of cyber thefts in the hospitality industry in 2009. We have a decent idea of how many of you read that article. For those of you who haven’t, here’s my topic sentence: “38% of the credit card hacking events in 2009 involved the hospitality industry.” Yep. 38%.

And guess what? The hospitality industry remained a high-level target in 2010. Alright, if you’re connected to the hospitality industry, you probably knew that already. But what you might not realize is that you’re not out of the clear. And, things may be getting worse as  the frequency of cyber criminality grows, and as the perpetrators become more sophisticated and cyber attacks propagate (more on that below).

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Its not often that worlds collide or that interests converge into one amorphous epiphany. But that’s exactly what happened to me recently, when the Division of Corporate Finance (DCF) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Disclosure Guidance identifying the types of information public companies should consider disclosing about cyber risks and events that could impact their financial statements. Now, the DCF has cautioned that the Disclosure Guidance only represents its own views and “is not a rule, regulation, or statement of the Securities and Exchange Commission.” The DCF also emphasizes right up front that ”the Commission has neither approved nor disapproved its content.” Yeah, right. YOU be an officer or director or officer of a company that does not “comply” with the DCF’s  ”recommendations.”

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Businesses that necessarily require their customers to disclose credit card and personal information, beware.   Just five days ago, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that claims by class action plaintiffs for ”mitigation damages” arising from alleged negligence and breach of contract were viable.  Anderson v. Hannaford Brothers Co., Nos. 10–2384, 10–2450, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 21239 (1st Cir. Oct. 20, 2011). 

In Anderson, the electronic payment processing  system of a national grocery chain, Hannaford Brothers Co., was breached by hackers in 2007. This resulted in the dissemination of as many as 4.2 million credit card and debit card numbers, expiration dates, and security codes.  Hannaford Brothers was not notified of the breach until February 27, 2008 and subsequently contained the breach on March 10, 2008.  A week later, Hannaford released a statement regarding the breach and announced that over 1,800 cases of fraud resulting from the theft already had been reported. 

Following Hannaford’s announcement, several financial institutions immediately cancelled customers’ debit and credit cards.  Some financial institutions, which refrained from immediately canceling the credit card, monitored the accounts for unusual activity, cancelling the cards, in many cases, without notifying the customer.  Customers who asked that their cards be cancelled incurred fees from issuing banks for the replacement cards. 

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The yellow fever outbreak of summer 1798 was the worst in Philadelphia’s history. Over 5,000 residents were infected, and nearly 1,300 died, causing even President Washington to flee. On the night of September 1st, 1798, the vault at Carpenter Hall was breached and the then-massive amount of $162,821 went missing. This first bank robbery in the United States, attributed as an “inside job”, ushered in an era of robberies that turned criminals into celebrities. Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillinger have become legends. At present, the risk of yellow fever has been mitigated due to vaccines. The risk of bank vaults being physically robbed similarly has been reduced.

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Computer hacking is a constantly evolving and growing threat.  While recent high-profile network security breaches at companies such as Epsilon and Sony (with crisis management and other costs estimated to range from $1 billion to multiples thereof in the case of Sony) have helped raise awareness about the need to adequately protect personal identifiable information, the problem has existed for decades. 

Yet the situation has only recently begun to receive proper attention from the media, government officials, businesses, and certain segments of the insurance industry.  Of course, the cost of a security breach may have something to do with that.  According to a study from Marsh and the Ponemon Institute, the typical data breach in FY 2010 resulted in companies and their insurers have to pay an average of $7.2 million to deal with and remedy the situation. 

One particularly alluring target for hackers has been educational institutions.  While schools and universities may not immediately appear to be obvious targets, the statistics confirm that attacks against educational institutions are on the rise. 

In 2007, educational institutions accounted for 25% of all reported data breaches.  This number jumped to 33% in 2008.  See Sarah Stephens & Shannan Fort, Cyber Liability & Higher Education, Aon Professional Risk Solutions White Paper (December 2008) Read the rest of this entry »

Faced with revitalizing a deteriorated economy, formulating a national budget, and the aftermath of Osama Bin Laden’s death, President Barack Obama has his hands full. Yet, in the midst of all the issues commanding the White House’s attention, the Obama Administration somehow has found time to address the threats to our nation’s cyber security.

According to Business Insurance, on Thursday, May 12, 2011, the Obama Administration proposed cyber security legislation to improve protection for individuals and the federal government’s computer and network systems. The proposed legislation would address national data breach reporting by creating simpler and standardized reporting requirements for the 47 states that contain such requirements. The proposal would also synchronize penalties for computer crimes with other crimes. Additionally, the government, through the Department of Homeland Security, would become directly involved in assisting the industry as well as state and local governments in policing and enforcing cyber security. The proposed legislation encourages the state and local governments to share information with the Department of Homeland Security about cyber threats or related incidents by providing them with immunity for doing so.  
 
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Following the publication of our original post on the implications of a cyber attack on investors’ securities portfolios (see here), we have been asked by scores of readers whether securities fraud litigation arising from cyber crime has ensued. Not surprisingly, the answer is “yes.”

Indeed, we have located at least two such cases, one a putative securities fraud class action against a payment processing company and the second an SEC initiated action against a private investor. The results may (or may not) surprise you, depending on your perspective of trial courts’ levels of judicial activism and willingness to render substantive decisions at early stages of litigation.

 In re: Heartland Payment Systems, No. 09-1043 (D.N.J. Dec. 07, 2009) remains the paradigm for such litigation. To facilitate its payment processing services, Heartland Payment Systems (“Heartland”) stored millions of credit and debit card numbers on its internal computer network. In December 2007, hackers launched a Structured Query Language Attack (“SQL attack”) on Heartland’s payroll management system. To its credit, Heartland was able to successfully avert the attack before any personally identifiable information was stolen. At the same time, however, the company failed to detect malicious software (“malware”) which had been placed on the network by the SQL attack.  The malware infected Heartland’s payment processing system, ultimately enabling the hackers to steal 130 million consumer credit and debit card numbers.  Heartland did not discover the breach until January 2009, at which time it notified government authorities and publicly disclosed the event.  Over the course of the following month, Heartland’s stock price dropped over $15 per share. Perhaps not surprisingly, shareholder class actions ensued.

In their complaint, plaintiffs alleged that Heartland and its officers and directors had made material misrepresentations and omissions about the December 2007 SQL attack. Specifically, plaintiffs claimed that the defendants concealed the SQL attack and misrepresented the general state of Heartland’s data security.  Plaintiffs further alleged that the defendants’ conduct was fraudulent because they were aware that Heartland’s network had been breached, yet they had not fully remedied the problem Read the rest of this entry »