Opening up the office? Woohoo! Congrats! An actual coffee break with colleagues has never been sweeter, right? Whose birthday needs a cake? Just remember, re-opening creates new opportunities for cyber criminals too. They’re ready—are you?
New Entry Points
For the most part, we’ve realized: there’s no going back to normal—the only normal is the one we are now creating as we re-think everything. We can keep working from home—and visit the office at intervals, for collaborative work. Why not? A couple days alone in fuzzy slippers and a couple days together in spiffy new outfits. Sounds good. Cyber criminals think so too. As Fortune reports:
The post-pandemic workplace will be a hybrid of the old and the new, with employees taking advantage of cloud-based technologies to work from anywhere, while also maintaining the ability to go into an office as needed.
From a cybersecurity perspective, however, this has the potential to be a nightmare scenario. While completely remote workers can be segmented in a way that protects central networks, hybrid workers expose these networks to increased risk every time they return to the office and reconnect, potentially bringing with them malware they picked up….
The pandemic and confusion around the adoption of technology, the remote workplace, and demand for widespread digitized services created a perfect storm that hackers have been exploiting over the past 12 months. And the scale, frequency, and sophistication of hacking are only going to grow as organizations further accelerate their transitions to new, hybrid workplace models, and our social and economic systems become increasingly dependent on these digital technologies.
What’s a Business Owner To Do?
As businesses return to more in-person operations, owners face a lot of new stressors. For example, coinciding with “going back” efforts, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has issued heightened expectations related to the cybersecurity of retirement plans. Facing both new criminal threats and regulatory expectations business owners can expect challenging times to continue. This may be especially true in smaller businesses, since typically, they are without access to the services and protections that larger companies are able to leverage.
Prevention efforts against cyber attacks are of course important—but these days, not having an expert response plan for cyber breaches is what can result in disaster—again, particularly for small businesses. When it comes to risk management, plan sponsors across the country are turning to Colonial Surety Company, a nationally recognized provider of ERISA bonds—and a whole lot more.
Colonial Surety Company is now providing affordable Cyber Liabiliity protection. Armed with this coverage, in the event of a breach, you will have a team of experts who assist your business at every stage of incident investigation and response. Carefully vetted forensic and legal experts establish what’s been compromised, assess responsibility and notify impacted individuals. As needed, call center support, credit and identity monitoring is provided— even public relations experts. Liability protection in the event of covered lawsuits or regulatory actions due to a data breach? Of course, that’s included too.
Learn More and Obtain Cyber Liability Protection Here.
Prevent A Nightmare Scenario
With the release of EBSA’s new expectations, the intersection of cybersecurity and fiduciary duties is ever closer. Can you even imagine how allegations of a fiduciary breach would divert attention and resources from the business you have built—and your life? For example, if you suddenly needed an attorney with ERISA expertise, you would likely pay upwards of $600—per hour. Avoid this possibility—and a lot of other stress—add Colonial Surety Company’s affordable fiduciary liability protection to your complete plan sponsor protection package.
With Colonial’s comprehensive package, plan sponsors receive:
- The ERISA bond required to protect the assets of the retirement plan from theft;
- Fiduciary Liabilitycoverage to protect you and your assets from personal liability;
- Cyber Liability coverage to protect your company and plan from covered losses and expenses in the event of a cyber breach.
Complete and Affordable Plan Sponsor Protection Package.
Serving customers since 1930, Colonial Surety is the trusted source for the pension industry to secure legally required ERISA bonds, fiduciary liability insurance and cyber-liability insurance. We help safeguard plan sponsors, pension professionals and financial advisors – and keep their businesses compliant – with pain-free, efficient, and friendly service every time.
We are rated “A Excellent” by A.M. Best Company, U.S. Treasury listed and in business all across the country.