WSHB partner and cyber guru Christopher Seusing spoke at a feature presentation at the CLM Alliance (Claims and Litigation Management Alliance) Focus Conference in Washington, D.C. on November 2-3, 2022. In a session titled, “Cyber - The Threat is Real: Managing the Cyber Risks of Third-Party Vendors,” the panelists examined how insurers can assess cyber risks presented from all the insureds’ third-party vendors, address how insureds can establish contribution/indemnification from third-party vendors by properly negotiating their contracts, discuss how insureds who are the subject of litigation can seek contribution from third-party vendors if there are limitations of damages or liquidated damages clauses, and touch upon potential subrogation opportunities and strategies. Chris was joined by a panel of experts, which includes Anthony Dolce, The Hartford; Monique Ferraro, HSB - Hartford Steam Boiler; and Peter L. Hedberg, RPLU, Corvus Insurance.
Seusing also spoke on another cyber issue aptly entitled, “Best Practices for Managing Breach Reporting Deadlines.” A timely presentation, which brought to reality the issues that occur at a company following a breach. With these issues playing out in the headlines with increased frequency, Seusing provided sage practice pointers for meeting breach deadlines as well as the factors that come into play. This blue ribbon panel discussed setting up the breached party for success by learning how to proactively manage reporting deadlines set by state and federal authorities (e.g., HIPAA, FINRA, NY DFS, and State Attorneys General). Panelists covered the value of information-gathering at claim inception to understand potential reporting obligations, common challenges with meeting hard reporting deadlines, strategies for providing advance or preliminary notification to authoritative bodies once it becomes apparent that a hard reporting deadline will not be met due to the size of the breach or external factors such as involvement of law enforcement, and underscore the importance of meeting reporting deadlines given the increase in data breach class actions
Joining Seusing on the panel were Gene Fishel, Virginia Attorney General's Office; Daniel Lydecker, Allied World Assurance Company, Ltd.; and Carla Silva, Sedgwick.
