“It is critically important to identify and avoid heightened agent and broker operational risks during the pandemic,” writes Goldberg Segalla’s Peter J. Biging in Rough Notes.

Peter, a partner based in Manhattan, is co-chair of Goldberg Segalla’s Management and Professional Liability group and a leader of its Insurance Agents and Brokers practice. In an article focusing on increased E&O exposures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peter helps identify risks and suggests ways to avoid them. He also discusses a myriad of operational challenges E&O brokers and agents are facing, including revenue declines, forced or unexpected shutdowns, and increased cybersecurity threats because of staff working remotely.

“The FBI recently reported the number of complaints involving cyberattacks is up to as many as 4,000 a day—a 400% increase from pre-COVID-19,” Peter writes. “In workplace environments where employees must remotely engage company operating systems and where interactions with customers and underwriters have increasingly been conducted via email or submission of electronic applications, opportunities to hack into systems, spoof emails, and engage in other forms of social engineering have expanded dramatically. This leads to concerns that agents and brokers will potentially release confidential information improperly, send premium payments or settlement payments to fraudsters, or become victims of ransomware attacks, impeding access to their own files, among other concerns.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE:

“Addressing Agency Operational Risks,” Rough Notes, January 27, 2021

MORE ABOUT GOLDBERG SEGALLA’S PETER J. BIGING:

Peter J. Biging is an accomplished trial and appellate attorney with more than 30 years of experience as a litigator in the state and federal courts of New York. As co-chair of the firm’s nationwide Management and Professional Liability practice group, Peter counsels and defends directors and officers against claims alleging fraud, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duties, and a variety of professionals against claims based on alleged errors and omissions (E&O) in the performance of their professional services. He also regularly litigates labor and employment practices liability claims, commercial disputes, and municipal liability claims premised on alleged civil and constitutional violations.