Daily Market Update - November 27, 2014

​North American hospital risk insights report released… Regulator calls for access to more data to fight cyber crime… IT management can’t afford to ignore risks from social media…

North American hospital risk insights report released
There has been an increase in the severity of claims from teaching and children’s hospitals in North America and it could be linked to lower interest rates. The revelation comes in the latest Healthcare Risk Insights study from Zurich North America and shows the challenges facing an evolving healthcare industry. The study indicates there may be a link between the high severity of claims from children hospitals and interest rates. There was a noticeable spike in the severity of claims from children’s hospitals starting in 2007 and the study noted that during the same time period there also was a clear decrease in the general interest rate environment. Research suggests that the low interest rate environment may have increased the present value of life care plans often found as part of claims arising from children's hospitals, potentially explaining the jump. The study also found that overall claim frequency continues to be quite stable from previous years and will most likely continue. Read the full report.
 
Regulator calls for access to more data to fight cyber crime
An Australian financial regulator says it’s vital that access to metadata is made available in order to fight cyber crime. The chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission says that the risk of cyber crime is a major challenge for regulators globally. Greg Medcraft noted that for financial firms it is now a “fact of life” that hackers will target them. Business should be asking questions about their business partners as well as looking after their own cyber security. Medcraft is concerned that ASIC has not been granted access to data under new federal government rules and believes that will hamper its ability to detect white collar crime.
 
IT management can’t afford to ignore risks from social media
Allowing full responsibility for a business’ social media to rest with the marketing team could be exposing the firm to risk according to an IT expert. Marc Harris of CrownControlHQ says that marketing and IT teams should be working together to ensure success in the use of social media but notes that typically that is not the case. Harris cites a case of a social media officer boasting of their exclusive access to the Twitter account of the firm’s chairman. Not only did that mean that if they were no longer available then the social stream would stop but they had control over what was said in the name of the company’s chair; no one else could access the account. Harris also says that usernames and passwords for social accounts are too frequently written on post-it-notes and stuck on computers for all to see. The shared use of passwords is also a threat as there is no accountability and no audit trail. If a rogue post of made how can the culprit be tracked? His ‘takeaway’ message is clear: “IT Directors ignore social media at their peril. It is time to wake up, check and challenge when it comes to corporate social engagement.”
 

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