What are the biggest challenges facing GCs from a cyber risk perspective right now?
There are two primary risks. It’s quite clear from recent guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and other organisations that ransomware is prevalent. Therefore, businesses should be preparing their playbook and their response process, so that they have them ready for when any attack might happen. Indications are that the ICO and other regulators are going to be tougher in relation to cyber incidents; whereas before they may have regarded the attacked organisation as a victim, now, because cybercrime is so prevalent, they’re saying that businesses need to be ready. Some recent ICO decisions have not been favourable to victim organisations, so it’s important for GCs to be ready. Continue reading “Defensive manoeuvres”

Cyber risk is a major threat to all businesses, irrespective of size, brand or industry. Over recent years, and particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, the threat of a cyber-attack has increased significantly. There is a growing prevalence of ransomware being deployed across all business types and sectors. With the increased regulation of data on a global basis, and a focus by industry regulators on protecting data, a cyber-attack can and does have a very significant impact on business, including: immediate operational impact, substantial management time being diverted to deal with the situation, loss of business, reputational damage, the risk of multiple regulatory investigations and fines. Further, an entitlement to compensation for data subjects affected by a breach of legislation has led to increased risk of litigation in this area. Continue reading “Cyber risk – is your organisation cyber-ready?”

For personal injury (PI) practitioners, dynamism is one of the features which makes this such a fulfilling field to work in. The work follows a constant ebb and flow of patterns and trends – from the boom and wane of asbestos-related cases, to the rapid spike in noise-induced hearing loss claims, to the recent resurgence of interest in vicarious liability. The world of PI often acts as a microcosm of broader market and societal changes, mapping developments and drawing out issues. It’s no surprise, then, that the pervasive and rapid changes inflicted on our daily lives over the last few years have been mirrored, magnified and mulled over in the personal injury arena, and the fallout is of primary concern to in-house legal teams, particularly in the insurance sector. Continue reading “A state of flux”