An Olympic Sized Policy

So what is incredibly popular, attracts 17,000 athletes from 205 countries, encompasses 26 different sporting competitions, and took place in London, England, for two weeks? Well, to most people it is the Olympics; however to someone in the insurance industry it was just another huge sporting event that needs to be insured.

As reported in PropertyCasualty360. com, Robert Barron, Assistant Vice President, Accident and Health, Sports and Contingency at Lockton Insurance and Risk Management in London, says, “We look at a lot of different event business, and just because the Olympics are big, it ultimately gets looked at in the same way as small risk business. It has the same parameters. It’s in multiple locations in various bits and pieces, but ultimately, it is just an event like any other.” However, what sets the Olympics apart from other sporting events is that “It has a fantastic loss history,” says Mr. Barron. “It would take something very significant, such as a terrorist incident, to force the games to stop. And even an event such as that, as the 1972 terror attack at the Munich Olympics demonstrated, does not necessarily mean the games will end.”

Some of the challenges that this thing of ours encounters when attempting to insure a type of special event such as the Olympics, is that because the event is held in a different venue every four years, the carrier needs to have an understanding from a potential risk perspective of the specific location at the particular time that the event takes place. Also according to PropertyCasualty360.com, Lori Shaw, director of Aon Risk Solutions’ Global Entertainment Group says “…every Olympic event is unique in terms of geographic exposures—earthquake, landslides or hurricanes—for instance.” “For London, she says,” there is no particular geographic risk, and it helps that it is set in the center of a populated area instead of some remote location.” In addition, Another Olympicsized challenge for insurers is that the games have a lot of stakeholders.” She states.

Another issue worthy of strong consideration is that you have a large number of people, insured people, all together in one area for long periods of time. This may limit the capacity that insurers are willing to share on the risk. “A marquee event like this, everyone likes to have their name associated with it,” says Ms. Shaw. “But insurers manage their portfolio; no one becomes stupid.”

Mr. Barron goes on to say that because the games are in London, it does make it easier for brokers to place risk in the sense that they are closer to the insurers writing coverage. “The challenge is the multiple locations [within London] and length of time of the events, it is a big number to bind with billions of dollars to share,” he says. Ms. Shaw states that “Capacity is always a problem close to the event, and it becomes a challenge. You pay a premium for it. That said [insurance] capacity is better now than it was post-9/11 especially on the issue of terrorism.”

USA! USA! USA!

Like so many of you, I search for a Wi- Fi hotspot anywhere I can find one…for my laptop, iPhone, iPad, for the kids phones, wife’s phone, parents’ phone, or anything else that I can connect up to it, for so many reasons but sometimes just for the sake of connecting so that email arrives quicker and browsing the internet is almost instantaneous. Driving to Charleston, SC, this week to take our daughter to school, the “kids” spent most of the drive down trying to connect to any Wi-Fi signal that they could grab along I- 95, just so that they could watch live streaming of The Big Bang Theory and a few other favorite shows of theirs along the way!

However, not every hotspot that you find is as scrupulous as your local Starbucks, Panera Bread, or even Mickey Dee’s. According to Steve Anderson of the TAAR Report “Free, Public Wi-Fi Can be Dangerous to Your Health!” Reprinted with permission from, “Steve Anderson’s TechTips, a free weekly email about technology tips & tricks for the insurance industry”. The following is a piece that Steve wrote, that he has allowed me to share with you. For more of Steve’s techtips you can try it out at www.SteveAnderson.com/TechTips. A few days ago I was sitting at a local coffee shop and watched a young lady come in with her laptop. She sat down at the table, connected her laptop to the free wireless network, and proceeded to log into her online bank account. I remember thinking at the time, “That is a dangerous practice.”

I then received an email from Steve Aronson, an agent in Massachusetts, highlighting the same issue. He suggested I write about how to protect your information when using free public Wi-Fi. Wireless access to the Internet has become a necessity for many people so they can stay connected. Whether you’re on vacation at a resort, waiting in an airport or sitting in a coffee shop, it’s likely you will be able to connect to the Internet through a wireless network provided by the property owner. Sometimes these will they will be free. But be careful: sometimes free Wi-Fi can be a scam perpetrated by criminals hoping to steal your personal information. You could end up being the target of a “man in the middle” attack, in which a hacker is able to steal the information you send over the Internet, including usernames and passwords. And you could also have your files and identity stolen and end up with a spyware-infested computer. The attack could even leave your laptop open to hackers every time you turn it on, by allowing anyone to connect to it without your knowledge.

How the attack works

You go to an airport or other hot spot and fire up your PC, hoping to find a free hot spot. You see one that calls itself “Free Wi-Fi” or a similar name. You connect. Bingo — you’ve been had!

The problem is that it’s not really a hot spot. Instead, it’s an ad hoc, peer-to-peer network, possibly set up as a trap by someone with a laptop nearby. You can use the Internet, because the attacker has set up his PC to let you browse the Internet via his connection. But because you’re using his connection, all your traffic goes through his PC, so he can see everything you do online, including all the usernames and passwords you enter for financial and other websites. In addition, because you’ve directly connected to the attack PC on a peer-topeer basis, if you’ve set up your PC to allow file sharing, the attacker can have complete run of your PC, stealing files and data and planting malware on it. You can’t actually see any of this happening, so you’d be none the wiser. The hacker steals what he wants to or plants malware, such as zombie software, then leaves, and you have no way of tracking him down.

All that is bad enough, but it might not be the end of the attack. Depending on how you’ve connected to that ad hoc network, the next time you turn on your PC, it may automatically broadcast the new “Free Wi-Fi” network ID to the world, and anyone nearby can connect to it in ad hoc peer-to-peer mode without your knowledge — and can do damage if you’ve allowed file sharing.

Security company Commtouch (previously Authentium Inc.) has found dozens of ad hoc networks in Atlanta’s airport, New York’s LaGuardia, the West Palm Beach, Fla., airport and Chicago’s O’Hare. Internet users have reported finding them at LAX airport in Los Angeles.

Commtouch did an in-depth survey of the ad hoc networks found at O’Hare, visiting on three different occasions. It found more than 20 ad hoc networks each time, with 80% of them advertising free Wi-Fi access. The company also found that many of the networks were displaying fake or misleading MAC addresses, a clear sign that they were bent on mischief.

How to protect yourself

The easiest way to protect yourself from Wi-Fi fraud is to not connect to any free wireless networks. If you’re in a coffee shop, airport or hotel that has a legitimate Wi-Fi connection for a small fee, it’s worth the price for peace of mind. Ask the business’ staff if there is a hot spot available and get the name from them. Mobile device users should make sure they have downloaded all the security updates for their operating systems. If you function in a wireless environment on a regular basis, you are better off spending the money on a wireless card that you get through AT&T, Verizon or Sprint. This way, you have your own relatively secured wireless connection. This is what I do for access.

If you choose to take advantage of free Wi-Fi availability, here are some things to keep in mind.

• Never connect to a “computer-tocomputer” network. When choosing a wireless network, check out the description of each one. A normal wireless network is simply called “wireless network” not a “computerto- computer” network.
• Use HTTPS to access webmail and avoid protocols that don’t include encryption.
• Turn off your computer’s file sharing capabilities. The instructions will vary slightly depending on what computer system you’re using (Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, etc.).
• Use a software firewall to further control who can connect to your computer and how.
• Avoid conducting financial transactions or accessing any sensitive websites if you aren’t using an Internet connection that you know and trust. It pays to be vigilant whenever you are connecting to a wireless network. If you have any doubt about the Wi-Fi connections, then don’t connect. It’s just not worth the potential problems. Thank you, Steve, for helping to make us all aware of some of the cyber dangers that are lurking out there, just waiting for someone to fall victim to their ruse.

Over the summer, InVEST, the insurance industry’s premier classroom to career education program, has awarded $61,500 in scholarships to 55 students pursuing insurance-related degrees. The program is a key incentive in attracting new talent to the insurance industry. “InVEST congratulates the 55 students representing 20 schools and from five states and the District of Columbia who earned scholarships this year,” says Heather Minkler, chair of the National InVEST board of directors and CEO of Clark-Mortenson Agency, an independent insurance agency in Keene, N.H. “Each year, InVEST develops future industry professionals by educating high school and college students about insurance, risk management and financial services. Graduates from more than 275 InVEST programs across the country are armed with knowledge to help them pursue careers in an agency, company or other insurance industry organization.”

In case you are not aware, InVEST contributes to the education and development of future insurance professionals through academic programs and scholarships. In high schools, the program offers students a business curriculum which teaches them about the dynamics of insurance agencies and companies. At the college level, the program develops students’ risk management and financial analysis skills. Along with direct contributions, scholarships are funded through proceeds generated by the InVEST Silent and Live auctions held in conjunction with the Independent Insurance Agents & Broker’s (IIABA or the Big “I”) Legislative Conference & Convention.

“Continuing success of the InVEST program is critical not only to the future of the independent agency system, but to the insurance industry as a whole and the increase in financial literacy of our young people,” says Robert Rusbuldt, Big “I” President & CEO. “Many are concerned that the average age of an insurance professional is around 54 and as baby boomers retire, the InVEST program has the potential to replenish our workforce, which is a crucial challenge.”

Thank you, InVest, for what you contribute to our industry, and for more information, please visit www.investprogram. org. Well, that’s about it for now…and as summer draws near to its unofficial close, the convention season will be heating up and we’ll be sharing some of these local events here in this column with you. Until next time…”Ciao for now!”