2024 is here and Open Enrollment is just around the corner for many of you. Making open enrollment a positive experience for both employees and employers involves effective communication, providing clear information, and offering support throughout the process. Here are some tips for creating a positive open enrollment experience:

1. Early Communication:
   • Notify employees well in advance about the upcoming open enrollment period.
   • Clearly communicate the dates, deadlines, and any changes to the benefits offerings.
2. Clear Information:
   • Provide detailed information about each benefit option, including coverage details, costs, and any changes from the previous year.
   • Use easy-to-understand language to explain complex terms and concepts.
3. Education and Workshops:
   • Offer informational sessions or workshops to educate employees about their benefit options.
   • Provide opportunities for employees to ask questions and seek clarification.
4. Digital Tools and Resources:
   • Utilize user-friendly online platforms for benefits enrollment.
   • Offer interactive tools or calculators to help employees understand their coverage needs.
5. Personalized Assistance:
   • Have a dedicated HR representative or benefits counselor available to assist employees one-on-one.
   • Provide contact information for support and encourage employees to reach out with questions.
6. Promote Wellness Programs:
   • Highlight any wellness programs or initiatives included in the benefits package.
   • Emphasize the importance of maintaining good health and utilizing available wellness resources.
7. Feedback Mechanism:
   • Create a feedback mechanism for employees to share their thoughts and suggestions on the benefits offered.
   • Use feedback to make improvements for future open enrollment periods.
8. Recognition and Appreciation:
   • Acknowledge employees who actively participate in the open enrollment process.
   • Express appreciation for their commitment to understanding and selecting appropriate benefits.
9. Transparency:
   • Be transparent about any changes in costs or coverage.
   • Clearly communicate the reasons behind changes, if applicable.
10. Post-Enrollment Support:
    • Offer ongoing support after enrollment for any issues or changes that may arise.
    • Ensure that employees can easily access information about their benefits throughout the year.

By focusing on communication, education, and support, employers can enhance the open enrollment experience, leading to better-informed and satisfied employees.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is the process of a user or device providing two or more different types of proofs of control associated with a specific digital identity, to gain access to the associated permissions, rights, privileges, and memberships. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) implies that exactly two proofs are required for a successful authentication and is a subset of MFA. 

Decades of successful attacks against single-factor authentication methods, like login names and passwords, are driving a growing large-scale movement to more secure, multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions in both corporate environments and by websites everywhere. This trend is exemplified by the fact that over the last few years, the most popular websites and services, including those owned by Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter, have offered MFA solutions to their customers. Many internet sites and services now offer both traditional login name/password solutions and more secure, MFA options.

The broader adoption of MFA is a positive development for computer defenses and can reduce many of the threats that would otherwise be more readily successful against single-factor authentication solutions. All other things considered equal, all admins and users should consider and use MFA solutions instead of single-factor authentication solutions to protect sensitive data. In a recent National Cybersecurity Alliance survey, 57% of respondents said they have heard of multifactor authentication (MFA), but many people don’t realize that multifactor authentication is an incredibly important layer of protection in keeping accounts secure.

TIPS AND ADVICE

MFA provides extra security by providing a secondary method confirming your identity when logging into accounts. One version of MFA requires you to enter a code sent to your phone or email, or one generated by an authenticator app. Push notifications are also common methods of MFA. This added step prevents unauthorized users from gaining access to your accounts, even if your password has been compromised because they likely won’t also have access to the code or other method of authentication.

FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO TURN ON MFA

Open your app or account settings – It may be called Account Settings, Settings & Privacy or similar.

Turn on multifactor authentication – It may also be called two-factor authentication, two-step authentication or similar.

Confirm – Select an MFA method to use from the options provided. Examples are:

• Receiving a code by text or email
• Using an authenticator app: These phone-based apps generate a new code every 30 seconds or so
• Biometrics: This uses facial recognition or fingerprints to confirm your identity

CAUTION: The ability of MFA to reduce computer security risk has been overstated by many vendors and proponents, leading to a misunderstanding that the application of MFA means all attacks that were successful against single-factor authentication cannot be successful against MFA. For example, many MFA admins and users believe that email phishing is no longer a threat because users cannot be phished out of their login credentials. This is not true. As thiswebinar from KnowBe4 highlights, there are numerous ways to hack MFA. Diligence and support of a strong cybersecurity culture remains important with all technology applications. #SecureOurWorld

Taken from an article by the CPIA Program by AIMS: Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Lesson 2

Cyber liability insurance, also known as cyber insurance or cybersecurity insurance, is a type of insurance coverage that protects businesses and individuals from the financial losses and legal liabilities associated with cyberattacks and data breaches. The importance of cyber liability insurance has grown significantly in today’s digital age due to the increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber threats. Here are several reasons why cyber liability insurance is important:

1. Financial Protection: Cyberattacks can result in significant financial losses, including costs for data recovery, system repairs, legal fees, and regulatory fines. Cyber liability insurance can help cover these expenses, reducing the financial burden on the insured party.
2. Data Breach Response: Cyber insurance typically provides access to experts who can help respond to a data breach or cyber incident. This includes IT forensics, public relations, legal counsel, and notification services. These professionals can help manage the incident effectively and minimize its impact.
3. Regulatory Compliance: Many industries and regions have data protection regulations and laws that require organizations to safeguard customer and employee data. Failing to comply with these regulations can result in hefty fines. Cyber liability insurance can help cover these fines and assist in meeting regulatory requirements.
4. Reputation Management: A data breach can damage a company’s reputation and erode customer trust. Cyber insurance often includes coverage for public relations efforts and communication with affected parties to mitigate reputation damage.
5. Legal Defense: If a cyber incident leads to lawsuits, cyber liability insurance can cover legal defense costs and settlements. This is particularly important when customers or third parties hold a company responsible for a data breach.
6. Business Continuity: Cyber insurance can cover expenses related to business interruption, such as lost income and extra expenses incurred during downtime caused by a cyber incident. This can help businesses maintain operations during and after a cyberattack.
7. Vendor and Third-Party Risks: Many businesses rely on third-party vendors and service providers for various aspects of their operations. Cyber insurance can extend coverage to include incidents involving third-party breaches, ensuring comprehensive protection.
8. Risk Mitigation: Cyber insurance providers often offer risk assessment and mitigation services to help policyholders strengthen their cybersecurity measures. This can reduce the likelihood of a cyber incident in the first place.
9. Financial Stability: Cyberattacks can have a significant impact on a company’s balance sheet. Cyber insurance provides a level of financial stability, ensuring that an organization can recover more quickly from an attack.
10. Peace of Mind: Knowing that you have cyber liability insurance in place can provide peace of mind for business owners, executives, and individuals. It helps mitigate the uncertainty and stress associated with the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats.

In conclusion, cyber liability insurance is crucial in the modern digital landscape to protect against the financial, legal, and reputational risks associated with cyberattacks and data breaches. It complements an organization’s overall cybersecurity strategy and helps ensure business continuity and peace of mind.

Don’t leave your business at risk – consider investing in cyber liability insurance to protect your company’s future.

1. Financial Protection: Insurance offers financial protection against unexpected events and risks. It helps individuals and businesses mitigate the financial losses that can result from accidents, illnesses, natural disasters, or other unforeseen circumstances. Without insurance, people may struggle to cover the costs of such events, leading to financial hardship.

2. Risk Management: Insurance allows individuals and organizations to transfer some of the risks they face to insurance companies. By paying regular premiums, policyholders can shift the burden of potential losses to insurers. This helps individuals and businesses manage their risks more effectively and focus on their core activities without constantly worrying about unforeseen financial setbacks.

3. Peace of Mind: Knowing that you have insurance coverage in place can provide peace of mind. It reduces anxiety and stress related to the uncertainty of life’s events, as policyholders have a safety net to rely on when things go wrong. This peace of mind can lead to improved mental well-being and quality of life.

4. Business Continuity: For businesses, insurance is crucial for continuity. It helps companies recover from unexpected events, such as fires, theft, or liability claims, by providing the necessary funds to repair or replace assets, compensate injured parties, and cover lost income during downtime.

5. Health Care Access: Health insurance plays a vital role in providing access to medical care. It helps individuals afford the cost of healthcare services, medications, and treatments. Without health insurance, many people would be unable to afford necessary medical care, leading to poorer health outcomes.

6. Retirement Planning: Insurance products like annuities and life insurance can serve as valuable tools for retirement planning. They provide a source of income or financial support during retirement years, helping individuals maintain their standard of living and avoid financial hardships.

In summary, insurance is important because it provides financial protection, helps manage risks, offers peace of mind, ensures legal compliance, supports lending and investment, enables business continuity, contributes to social and economic stability, facilitates healthcare access, and aids in retirement planning. It plays a critical role in safeguarding individuals, businesses, and society from the financial consequences of unexpected events and risks.

What exactly do I mean when I say, going Beyond Insurance? Could it be a new cliche? I hope not. There’s enough cliches out there to last a lifetime. The concept of going beyond insurance refers to looking at all possible risks within your business.

But before we continue on this road to insurance zen, let’s understand what a risk is. According to my trusty dictionary, risk as it pertains to insurance is “the hazard or chance of loss. The degree of probability to such a loss”. People like to separate insurance-related risks from non-insurance-related risks. Yet, most risks found in the business place can relate back to insurance.

For instance, if an employee is terminated, or simply put on furlough, as we saw during the height of the pandemic, the employee may feel that they were unjustly terminated or furloughed. Ok, you say, that is an HR issue, which it is. You could also run the risk of a costly lawsuit to your company. That’s where Employers Practices Liability kicks in, if you are covered. The pandemic has caused a myriad of lawsuits, one of the more interesting ones, to me at least, has been stockholders suing their Board of Directors for not having the foresight to plan for such a catastrophic event, thereby, causing stock values to drop. I don’t know if anyone, even psychics, would have been able to foresee this risk back in 2019. But this is what Directors and Officers liability is for. One more example, for the road. Another risk that went ballistic in 2020 was cybersecurity. The country is shutting down, and your employees need to keep on working. So, what to do? Let them work from home… For the bigger companies that was not an issue. They simply told their IT people to prepare secure laptops to send home with their employees and that was that. Business as usual. So, what happened to the smaller companies, the ones who could barely keep their doors open, much less give their employees a secured laptop to take home. The employee was now faced with having to log into their company’s files with the same computers that they used to log into their favorite purchasing website. It was a hackers field-day, actually, field-year. Well, for this risk there is Cyber Liability insurance.

Enough with the examples, let’s get to the point… When an agent goes beyond insurance they dig deep into every aspect of the prospect’s company. The CEO, CFO and employees are interviewed to find out where the obvious or not so obvious risks lie. One of the questions asked each individual interviewed is; what are your greatest concerns about your company? In other words, what makes the CEO or CFO lose sleep at night. Why is this question so important? Well, a “Go Beyond Insurance” agent, in doing the right digging, may discover a solution to a risk which neither executive were aware of or may have thought to look for. And why would we ask an employee the same question? After all, they are just employees, what do they know. Yet, studies have found that the average employee has a much keener eye for what may or may not be happening in the company than the executives. And most employees are very much vested in the success of the company where they are employed.

Once the information has been gathered, the agent will, again, sit with the CEO or CFO and go over the findings. These findings are accompanied by recommendations on how to mitigate each risk. Mitigating the risk, for a small to medium sized company could mean bringing in an IT or HR consultant. It could also mean outsourcing their accounting or payroll, or placing/replacing insurance products that will better serve their needs. Or, all of the above.

So, if your current agent is not a “Go Beyond Insurance” agent, you may want to begin looking for other alternatives.

An introduction

With geographical and physical borders no longer being barriers for the expansion of an organization, people other than the traditional employees — remote workers, contractors, vendors — are involved with organizations.

• Insider threat is a huge cybersecurity issue that a lot of firms are fighting against.
• Loss of sensitive data, damage to reputation, and downtime are common consequences of insider threats.

Examples of insider threats

When the enemy is on the inside, detection is relatively hard. The motive, ranging from personal gain to revenge, can fuel cyber attacks that can impact the organization heavily. Let’s look at a few examples of insider threats.

• A former disgruntled employee of the Canadian Pacific Railway brought down its computer network. Christopher Victor Grupe, who was not known to have a good relationship with his employers, deleted files, changed passwords, and removed administrator-level accounts in the firm’s network.
• An employee of the oil and gas company EnerVest reset the company’s server after he learned that he was going to be fired. This affected the firm’s business operations for approximately 30 days and cost a lot of money to retrieve data.
• Hackers infiltrated into Target Corporation’s network after stealing credentials from a third-party vendor. Approximately 41 million customer payment card accounts were said to be affected as a result of this data breach.

Employees often fall victim to targeted phishing attacks and BEC scams causing security compromises on a large scale.

What can organizations do?

Monitoring employee activities is a typical prevention measure organizations follow. But this could result in the violation of employee privacy if not handled properly. Other measures organizations can implement include:

• Limiting access to sensitive data. Employees can be given access to resources and data on a need-to-know basis.
• Mandating multi-factor authentication.
• Implementing a predictive persona analysis tailored to the organization. For example, disgruntled employees based on different indicators can be identified and monitored. But this involves carefully treading on a thin line between preventing insider threats and violating privacy.
• Educating employees about cyberattacks can help combat the risk associated with negligent employees in insider threats.

by Kristal Barghelame

1. It’s easier than you think to offer health insurance

First thing’s first: You don’t have to do this alone. A broker or health insurance advisor can guide you through the whole shebang.

As your go-to agent, they’ll:

• Help select a plan that’s right for you and your team, based on your industry and the coverage preferences of all the folks in your company.
• Set everything up and keep you compliant on an ongoing basis.
• Be the resident healthcare know-it-all for your employees, so you don’t have to answer difficult questions on all things health insurance.

2. Health benefits make your employees happy

According to a survey by Glassdoor, employees said health insurance is, by far, the most important benefit they receive from their employer. That’s why employers should offer health insurance as their first company benefit, then add on additional benefits over time.

The top three benefits that make employees the most satisfied, according to Glassdoor’s study, are:

1. Health insurance
2. Vacation and PTO
3. Pension plans, 401(k) & other retirement plans

If health benefits are a top priority for your employees, it should be a top priority for you. Offering it can help with recruiting and entice them to stay longer at your company.

3. It saves you money on taxes

Savings for employees

When employees buy health insurance on their own, they have to use post-tax dollars to buy it. That is, they make money, the government taxes that money, and then they take the remaining amount to buy what they need.

But when employees buy health insurance through a group plan, they pay for the insurance with pre-tax dollars. That can save them up to 30 to 45% on their health insurance premiums.

Savings for employers

Here are all the tax savings you get by offering group health insurance:

• Employer contributions are tax-deductible
• Employer payroll taxes are reduced by 7.65 percent of employee contributions
• Employer workers compensation premiums are reduced

Paying for health benefits instead of higher salaries can save you money because you don’t pay payroll taxes and workers compensation premiums on money used towards health benefits. Plus, your employees may prefer benefits over salary as well. According to that same Glassdoor study, nearly 80% of workers said they would prefer new or additional benefits to a pay increase.

4. It can give you access to more doctors and hospitals

Group insurance networks are often larger than individual networks. That means on an individual plan, you don’t have access to the same doctors and hospitals you would on a group plan.

The network differences vary by state, but in California, networks for individual plans are typically two-thirds the size for group plans. So purchasing a group plan can increase your access to more, and often better, doctors and hospitals.

5. Providing health insurance helps boost employee productivity

A study from MetLife found that 60% of employers say offering health insurance has led to higher productivity levels. And according to the CDC, employees who prioritize preventive care—like regular checkups—get more accomplished at work.

As an employer, you want your employees to focus on being their best productive and successful selves at work. Worrying about health insurance drains their energy and time. As you know, health insurance can be a pain to set up. And if your employees are enrolled in individual plans, all of that burden of setting up and managing their plan shifts from you to them.

And there you have it. From building a healthier, happier team to actually saving money, there are many reasons to take the plunge and offer health insurance to your team. Offering health benefits signals that you care about your team, ultimately building a culture of trust.