Cyber Attacks/Covered California

Cyber attacks on small businesses are becoming more and more prevalent. One company that monitors this said there are between 5000 to 7000 small businesses a day that pick up a virus. That is around 2 million a year and the problem keeps getting worse.

There are discussions around the country about holding people responsible should they negligently fail to put in place reasonable protections like changing passwords and firewalls just to name a couple. I have been told a law to this effect is in place in Massachusetts but I am not clear on the provisions.

I do believe in future you will see such laws around the country and may see a Federal law to protect National security.

You may be saying that you are a small business and the bad guys won’t come after you. Wrong . There are now automated tools that are out there that can monitor your computer. It is not necessary for an individual to do this.

So do you follow procedures to protect yourself from security breaches? Do you know what procedures you should put in place to protect yourself? If laws are being discussed are there incentives that could be provided to small business?

I assure you are going to be hearing a lot about this in the coming years. If you want a checklist of risk management procedures let me know.



Just got word that the expected information next week about the Covered California[Exchange] small group program[SHOP] will not be sent until August. This means rates and provider networks will not be available until August sometime.







Scott Hauge

President

Small Business California

2311 Taraval Street

San Francisco, CA 94116

shauge@cal-insure.com

415-680-2188