Ransomware will continue to be a top security concern in the coming years because of its ease of use and high profitability. For those unfamiliar with ransomware, it’s a type of malicious software (also known as malware) that, when downloaded to a computer, encrypts files so they can no longer be accessed without paying a ransom to the cybercriminals who are holding the files hostage.
Resource Search
The revolution of the “information age” has created tremendous advantages and helped accelerate innovation, but it has also brought with it new risks—namely cyber attacks. While the corporate attacks get most of the media attention, do not forget that individuals—especially the high net worth—need to be vigilant about cyber security. The good news is that there are ways for individuals to protect against cyber risks. This paper touches on the key threats to the high net worth and provides advice to help reduce the associated risks.
Your first home, establishing your career, marriage, a new baby, a teen’s first car, a student going to college, retirement—many of life’s major events can affect not only your life insurance and estate plans but also your property and liability insurance. While insurance may not be top of mind during these memorable moments and key life-stage milestones, failure to make necessary changes to your policies can lead to uncovered losses.
Although public companies are most often the targets of shareholder claims and class-action suits, not-for-profit and private entities are not immune from litigation. As a director, you could be named personally in claims of fraud or financial mismanagement from which the entity’s indemnification provisions and business structure cannot always protect you. It is important to understand the risk of lawsuits—whether brought by shareholder, employee, governmental body, competitor, customer, or other third parties—and how you can be protected.
Data breaches have become an accepted fact of modern business. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, twenty-nine businesses reported data breaches in August of 2016 alone. No industry was safe. For many organizations, the question now is not “if,” but “when.” This year appears to be on pace to surpass the number of breaches reported last year. With that in mind, there are concrete steps an organization can take to mitigate the cost of a breach that could occur later.
Although surveys vary, it is estimated that one-third of Americans own a gun. Therefore, the probability that a professional fiduciary (whether a trustee or personal representative) will be responsible for handling the sale or transfer of a firearm is relatively high. A fiduciary selling a gun collection faces unique challenges of both valuation and liability. Although it may be a time-consuming task, researching and using various alternative methods can uncover the best price, with care taken to abide by state and federal regulations, and will likely resolve both issues.
Entrepreneurs are risk takers by nature, leveraging their insight, hard work, and capital to create successful companies. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs who become business owners don’t think about specific kinds of risk until they’ve experienced a threat first hand. Yet planning ahead is critical to mitigate many different kinds of risk and protect your business from losses. Your own risk exposure will depend on many unique factors—the nature of the business, your own personal tax and financial situation, and estate and business succession planning considerations.
Family office activities are complex, and families can unintentionally put themselves at risk if they don’t proactively identify and address the potential impact of external factors. One solution: conduct a full diagnostic risk assessment and review of your internal controls to ensure that potential problems have been identified and proper mitigation strategies have been implemented.
Family offices and family-operated companies face a variety of security risks, including: cyber, physical, reputational, and financial. In many cases, their interconnectedness to family residences complicates matters further. David London of The Chertoff Group and FOX senior technology consultant Steven Draper will explain how to improve a family’s risk profile by identifying specific risks and implementing proven best practices for mitigating them.
Terrorism can take many shapes and involve a vast range of political or ideological agendas. But there are common threads linking all acts of terror: they involve the use of threat of violence, they are random—potentially occurring in any country, against any target, at any time—and their ultimate goal is to generate fear. As terror tactics continue to evolve, individuals and corporations around the globe cannot depend on security forces for their safety.