More and more stories are coming to light of fraudulent schemes continuing to evolve at an alarming rate (please see recent ATEB news articles). Vigilance across the whole firm is essential; however should a member of staff overlook making, for example, a precautionary telephone call, the losses to the client could be significant. Seven-figure losses are not unusual.

If you think that you don’t need to worry about this eventuality because it’s all covered in your Professional Indemnity policy, you must think again. Whilst your PI policy may cover the losses of your clients, it will almost definitely not cover your own. The only comprehensive protection for the IFA is to be found in a Cyber policy and not in the Professional Indemnity policy.

You will need a specialist to analyse your current arrangements and advise you what extra protection you may require, which may include:

• damage to your systems on your network as a result of an attack, whether internal or external, computer virus, denial of service attack or merely an operational error which causes a data loss;
• lost revenue and increased costs incurred due to attack or virus;
• theft of the firm’s money obtained during an attack on your network;
• the threat by an extortionist to damage your network, steal money, steal or disseminate confidential information on your network or deface your website;
• breach (not just from a cyber-attack and not limited to information stored on the network) of individuals’ private information, e.g. employee records and customers’ personally identifiable information;
• disclosure of corporate confidential information or trade secrets;
• theft of clients’ money obtained during an attack on your network
• damage to other networks, e.g. your unintentional transmission of a virus;
• disparagement or defamation which occurs by electronic means, e.g. email, internet forums or your website;
• PR Expenses and the costs of notifying customers that their data has been compromised, including providing ongoing support and credit monitoring services to them.