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Hackers breach dozens of business web sites every day – and too many of these break-ins remain undetected due to the sophistication of the attacks and/or a lack of cybersecurity awareness among the victims.

Once you realize that bad guys have hacked into your site and stolen customer data, here’s what you should do, advises Ilia Kolochenko, CEO of internet security firm High-Tech Bridge SA (Geneva, Switzerland):

First, as soon as you learn how your site was compromised, patch the vulnerability or weakness hackers used to get in – otherwise you’re leaving yourself wide open to more hacks.

Next, notify all customers whose personal data was stolen to change their passwords immediately. Assure them that you’re investigating the breach and will do your best to make sure it will never happen again. Although this notification is essential for the security of your customers (as well as a legal obligation), let them know individually; do not publicize the incident. Hackers often carry out break-ins in order to harm a company’s reputation for providing a secure site.

Finally, file a criminal complaint against the attackers, even if they’re hidden behind a chain of proxy servers. It’s the job of law enforcement and security companies to identify and prosecute hackers. Don’t be too optimistic; many of these cybercrimes go unsolved. However, reporting the break-in might well bring results – and will show customers you’re committed to keeping their data safe.

The bottom line: do all you can to protect your web site against hackers – and be sure to invest in comprehensive cyber liability insurance coverage that can minimize losses to your business.

We’d be glad to review your exposure to cybercrime and recommend the policy that’s best for you.

Reducing the risks your business faces should be the business of everyone in the organization. Unfortunately when employees and managers see a potentially risky or unsafe situation, they often fail to speak up – thus endangering fellow workers, not to mention the potential loss of productivity, revenue, and profits due to workplace accidents.

The reasons for this reluctance aren’t hard to find:

1. Overemphasis on productivity. Many managers turn a blind eye to hazards because they’re focused on increasing production. Whether they’re making widgets or constructing a building, they perceive anything that might slow this process, such as safety control measures, as an obstacle.
2. Personal experience of taking frequent risks without harm. A homeowner who has been climbing on his roof every fall for years to clean out the chimney with nothing but experience between him and the driveway will be unlikely to report potentially risks.
3. Continuing risky behavior despite close calls. Think of repeat drunk drivers or skiers who won’t wear a helmet because they believe that they’re immortal.
4. Workplace machismo. The ironworker who refuses to tie off at 28 feet up because “it takes away my manhood” remains the classic example.
5. Fear of unemployment. An employee who refuses his supervisor’s order to operate a dangerous machine without proper safety precaution is likely to be out of a job.
6. “System Creep.” Over the years, every safety system shifts inevitably from what’s right to what’s allowed. This phenomenon led directly to the Columbia shuttle disaster.

Because there had been several previous incidents of foam striking orbiters during launch, NASA came to accept these anomalies as the “new normal,” and the missions all went well – until they didn’t.

Educating all your employees to get beyond these attitudes should play a key role in creating a comprehensive risk management “culture” in your business.

Even though your business uses the latest cyber-security systems to protect confidential client data, low-tech thieves might well be tapping into this information without your knowledge: “Dumpster divers” rummage through company trash for discarded passwords and records. ATM cardholders often write their PIN code on the card itself. People hold loud “confidential” conversations in coffeehouses or walking down the street.

Have you ever considered how much of your customers’ private information might be left lying around the office? Fellow employees, cleaning crews, other customers, and repair people can easily walk by an absent employee’s desk and see confidential information scattered about or left on the computer screen. While you’ve invested in software to protect files against hackers, those same files could be sitting open in your office for all to see – and don’t overlook the most obvious and massive security breach in any organization – human error.

Walk through your business after hours or while employees are at lunch and see how much information is left openly accessible. Sit in the middle of the office or at the next booth or table at lunch, and listen for how much of your employee’s conversations (and possible confidential customer information) you can overhear.

Then decide what you can do to minimize this risk. Make sure that desktops are clear at night; add password-protected screen savers to your computers (and change the passwords often); and remind employees to be sensitive about what they reveal in public conversations.

It’s far better to clean up this problem now than to have it clean you out later.

Our agency’s risk management specialists stand ready to offer their advice at any time.

The nation’s record-breaking “polar vortex” cold snap last month reinforces the need for businesses to reduce the risk of injuries or accidents to employees working out of doors under winter conditions.

The human body has a core temperature of 98.6°F. Unconsciousness can occur at 86°F, and death below 73°F. Symptoms of a dangerous temperature decrease include persistent and severe shivering, fatigue, lack of co-ordination, drowsiness or apathy, hallucinations, resistance to help, and skin that turns blue before becoming pale and dry.

Employees working outdoors in extremely cold weather face two major health problems: frostbite and hypothermia. Frostbite freezes and crystallizes the fluids in body tissues and cellular spaces, which causes blood clotting and reduces the flow of oxygen to affected areas and deeper tissues. Hypothermia develops when the body can no longer maintain its core temperature and attempts to reduce heat loss by shutting down blood flow to the skin, arms and legs, as well as shivering to increase internal heat.

To help protect your outdoor workers against these risks, make sure that they:

• dress warmly and carry extra dry clothing if they’re likely to get wet
• stay dry (wet skin freezes quickly)
• drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration
• work during the warmest part of the day, as much as possible
• avoid sitting still outdoors for long periods and take regular breaks from the cold
• don’t touch metal or wear metal jewelry outdoors – metal conducts cold, increasing the risk of frostbite
• avoid cigarettes, alcohol, and too much coffee or caffeinated beverages. Smoking decreases circulation, while alcohol increases the rate of body cooling; caffeine also lowers circulation, its diuretic effect speeds dehydration, and its stimulant effect can hasten hypothermia)

For more information, feel free to get in touch with our agency.