With data breaches of large companies garnering all of the headlines, it is easy for smaller organizations to begin to feel like they can just fly under the radar and don’t have to be as concerned. Unfortunately, that’s not true.
Hackers, known for going after large organizations to steal data, now have an eye toward easy pickings in smaller companies, according to Markel’s IT and data-privacy underwriting expert.
Jake Kouns, Markel’s senior director of technology, left his job in IT to join Markel six years ago and is determined to rid businesses of the “it-can’t-happen-to-me” attitude toward insurance for data breaches.
“The risk is real, and it doesn’t matter what the size of your organization is,” he says from the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices (NAPSLO) convention here.
Although the thefts of records at large corporations such as Sony have garnered headlines, hackers are finding easy pickings, going after small-to-midsize businesses, which Kouns says he wants to educate and insure.
“They [hackers] are finding it easier to steal in small increments,” he explains. “Think about it—people start really looking for you when you take millions of records.”
This is something that was also pointed out in Verizon’s 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report.
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