SAN ANTONIO, Texas-SWBC has rolled out a new cyber security and liability program that it said would both help prevent fraud and mitigate losses should a client CU be compromised.
"We formed a relationship called Digital Defense, which provides security measures to help credit unions prevent hackers from coming in and obtaining information from their systems," said Nick Grant, CEO of SWBC Insurance Services' property and casualty division. "As qualified and capable as Digital Defense is, they will tell you that nothing is impossible and having a cost effective policy in place just shores up that exposure."
The alliance with Digital Defense will help credit unions implement best practices in limiting exposure of sensitive material, Grant explained.
SWBC's new program will insure losses from a myriad of sources, including lost or stolen computers, backup tapes, employee misuse, vendor negligence, improper disposable, paper documents, computer equipment and hacking. It also covers the notification costs associated with complying with the Red Flags Rules.
The rise in social media can play a major role in exposing credit unions to fraudsters, Grant pointed out. On Facebook, for example, credit union employees could engage with individuals posing as members and manage to convince those employees to give out sensitive information. Alternatively, CU Facebook pages could also expose members if they do not guard their privacy properly on the social networking site, as any user can see the names and possibly profile information of a credit union's "fans."
SWBC Marketing Director Jeanne Reddrick called policies and procedures governing the use of social media "extremely important," and could help the CU's bottom line as those rules play a role in determining insurance rates.
"We want to make you aware of the exposure that you face and then we want to make options available in the form of loss control and then ultimately a policy that covers you for that exposure," Grant explained.
