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These days, cyber attacks against businesses are a daily occurrence. This crime poses a significant threat to firms that have a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy, allowing employees to use their personal mobile devices – such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops – for company business.

This eliminates the cost of providing these devices to employees who are away from the office, raises productivity by streamlining the flow of information, and allows real-time employee response to client needs. On the other hand, a BYOD policy creates serious information security risks.

Companies have significantly less control over employees’ devices than over in-office technology – which makes it easier to hack them. More and more workers are storing data from their devices in ‘the cloud” (one study found that among the 89% of young employees who use personal cloud storage, 70% are storing work-related files, while 33% store customer data there). What’s more, according to the FCC, roughly one in three robberies involve mobile phones, and criminals often target laptops and tablets.

The result: it can be easy for hackers and thieves to target corporate data and confidential client information on your employees’ devices, leaving you open to expensive litigation and negative publicity.

To reduce this exposure, risk management experts recommend that your IT department educate employees on the vulnerabilities of their devices and provide the resources to protect them by:

1. Adding auto-locks on all devices that can disable them if stolen.
2. Making sure device are stored in a safe place at all times.
3. Recommending passwords that combine letters, numbers and symbols.

We strongly encourage you to purchase cyber liability insurance as a safety net that can help you prevent hacking and minimize its financial and reputational costs to your company.

To learn more, feel free to get in touch with our risk management specialists at any time.

You set the security alarm every night on your way home. You double-check the window locks and turn the deadbolt on the back door. You place your cash and valuables in the safe. Before turning out the lights, you start the backup routine on your computer. Congratulations! All of these steps help minimize your chance of loss and make you a more effective risk manager. But how do you know that these devices are working properly?

For example, although you’re performing regular backups to your computer, do you double-check to be certain the data is actually there? One systems administrator ran her backup routine every night, only to discover at the time of a systems crash that all backup files for the past six months were blank, due to a hardware malfunction. Have you tested your security alarm lately to make sure that it actually alerts the police or fire department? Are you sure that your safe locks completely when the door is closed? If your employees sometimes close up at night, do they have a checklist that covers every step in the process?

Making your protection devices work as hard as you do is just one of our services. Although many agencies can sell you insurance, we do far more than this. We can help minimize your losses by implementing a comprehensive and effective risk management program that supplements your insurance by providing a “safety net “to catch you. Our philosophy is clear: The best claim is the one that never happens.

If you agree, just give us a call.

Although fire extinguishers are great for putting out small fires – or preventing them from turning into big ones – make sure that yours are ready should the time come. Consider these tips from OSHA:

Be certain the extinguishers are the type required by your fire exposure. The extinguisher to use depends on the type of fire:

• Class A fires involve materials such as wood, paper, or cloth which produce glowing embers or char.
• Class B fires involve flammable gases, liquids, and greases, including gasoline and most hydrocarbon liquids, which must be vaporized for combustion to occur.
• Class C fires involve fires in live electrical equipment or in materials near electrically powered equipment.
• Class D fires involve combustible metals, such as magnesium, zirconium, potassium, and sodium.

Put extinguishers in proper and easily identifiable locations. Locate them along normal paths of entry and exit and make sure that they’re clearly visible. Where you can’t avoid visual obstruction completely, provide directional arrows to indicate the location of extinguishers and signs marked with the extinguisher classification. If devices intended for different classes of fire are located together, mark them conspicuously to ensure that employees choose the proper extinguisher in case of fire.

Keep portable extinguishers fully charged and operable. They should be kept in their designated locations at all times when not being used. When extinguishers are removed for maintenance or testing, provide a fully charged and operable replacement unit.

These tools are valuable only if they’re available and functioning when needed. For more recommendations on keeping your workplace as safe as possible, talk with our risk management professionals. We’re here to help!

Unpaid internships can be a great win-win solution for business looking to attract new talent and students interested in getting some real-world work experience. But unless you’re careful in how you structure and manage your internship program, you could run afoul of labor laws and find yourself facing some hefty fines. The Department of Labor offers this six-point test to make sure your unpaid internship stays on the right side of the law:

• The internship offers experience similar to what would be gained in an educational environment like a traditional class.
• The experience is designed to benefit the intern.
• The intern is not used in place of regular employees, but works under supervision of the staff.
• The intern isn’t necessarily guaranteed, or entitled to, a job at the completion of the internship.
• Both the employer and the intern understand that wages will not be paid during the internship period.
• The employer doesn’t receive any immediate advantage from the intern’s activities; that is, it’s designed for the learning benefit of the intern.

This six-point test generally is applicable even when your internship provides academic credit in exchange for work. If your internship program fails to meet any of these criteria, wage and overtime provisions may apply, which means your company could be sued by the intern and even by the school.

To reduce your business’ risk of litigation, review your internship program to make sure it passes the six-point test as well as any applicable state laws. And to maximize protection, consider formalizing your internship program with the guidance of your human resources department or counsel, developing a description of the program that emphasizes its educational benefits and defines the role of an intern in your company.

An unpaid internship can provide a great opportunity for students to gain applicable knowledge and an understanding of their chosen field. Taking a few simple preventive steps helps ensure your company can continue to provide learning opportunities as well as an enriching experience for students.