What’s New: In Brief (December 19, 2007)

Phishing attacks in the United States soared in 2007, as US$3.2 billion was lost to these attacks, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.Phishing is essentially the practice of luring Internet users to a fake Web site through the use of authentic-looking emails with a real organization’s logo in an attempt to steal passwords, financial or personal information or introduce a virus attack.According to a survey of more than 4,500 online U.S. adults in August 2007 (a representative sample of the online U.S. adult population), attacks in 2007 were more successful than they were in the previous two years, a Gartner release says. Of surveyed consumers who received phishing e-mails in 2007, 3.3% said they lost money because of the attack. In contrast, 2.3% lost money in 2006, and 2.9% did so in 2005.

In the event of an avian flu outbreak, business interruption (BI) insurance may not cover an incident because standard BI coverage is only triggered if there is loss or damage to insured property at the insured’s premises, warns Lloyd’s.An incident occurring at or near unrelated premises could cause either employee absences or loss of customers through fear, Marsh told Lloyd’s. The physical intervention of a local or civil authority ordering closure of insured’s premises could also have the same effect, a Lloyd’s release adds.”Businesses can buy BI extensions that relate to outbreaks of infectious diseases, but only related to, and triggered by, notifiable diseases,” Andrew Keefe, a senior vice president in global placement for Marsh, told Lloyd’s.”But even then, the triggers, limits and periods of indemnity for such covers are very narrow and can be limited to an incident on the insured’s premises only.”Today, the maximum sub limit available on such extensions would typically be 5 billion [about Cdn$10 billion], he added.