Chubb's Carolyn Boris protects clients against cyber risks

William Taufic

The average person spends approximately seven hours a day facing a screen on a phone, computer, tablet or other device, highlighting the impact of technology on daily life. The amount of time spent on devices has increased by 50 minutes per day over the last 10 years. For insurers, technology has permeated every aspect of the industry from sales and underwriting, to first notice of loss for a claim, to proactively mitigating losses before they occur. Add the almost overnight adoption of generative AI into the mix, and technology is evolving at warp speed as new risks arise with its use.

Carolyn Boris is vice president and product development manager for personal risk services at Chubb and is responsible for identifying emerging risks and hazards for their policyholders. She says that all of this screen time does come with inherent dangers. "Chubb is definitely mindful of the risks of being online so frequently, and some of those risks that are emerging…are more sophisticated phishing schemes, more sophisticated social engineering schemes…which are designed to trick somebody into either sending money to a fraudulent organization or individual, or attempt to have you part with personal information that might lead to passwords that are associated with online accounts."

Chubb's cybersecurity product helps to protect clients from some of these risks and is embedded within the company's homeowners policy. It also helps to assist customers who experience identity fraud and need help in the wake of a cyber breach.

Online usage varies by age, with baby boomers spending two hours less time a day than Gen Z on their devices. While being online does have inherent risks, Boris shares that younger generations have been more susceptible to scams than their older counterparts. "In 2022, the FTC reported that 43% of [individuals] in the 20 to 29 age group reported losing money to an online scam versus 23% in the 70 to 79 group." However, she says the same report indicated that individuals in the 70-79 age group were likely to lose more money than the younger targets. "The average loss was $1,750 versus $548 for the younger age group."

Staying safe online
Many consider home to be their "safe space," but the introduction of technology has changed the exposures there as well. Boris explains that with everyone living their lives online, different risks arise from using mobile devices, gaming devices, desktops and other types of technology, and it's important that all family members practice safe cyber hygiene. "If they're old enough to have that online device, then they should understand what they're doing with it and how to protect themselves," she advises.

She recommends setting up accounts with strong passwords; using two-factor authentication, particularly for financial accounts; and being mindful of the information shared online, especially when traveling and utilizing free wi-fi in airports and other places. Using free USB ports in airports and the ports in rental cars can also be dangerous and lead to unintentionally providing access to mobile devices. Another risk comes from those ads that pop up regularly on social media feeds or even marketing emails from recognizable companies. Boris suggests visiting a vendor's actual website instead of clicking on an advertisement or link in an email that can be redirected to a seemingly legitimate site that's set up to steal log-in details or credit card information.

Risks of rapid technology adoption
The rapid adoption of large language models like ChatGPT have also made it easier to perpetrate scams on unsuspecting individuals. Gone are the days when poor grammar or spelling in an email would tip someone off that it really wasn't from a prince in a foreign land. Boris says Chubb has been watching developments in this space because of the ability to create more sophisticated phishing and social engineering scams with generative AI. "They look more legitimate like they're coming from an actual company that you might be used to dealing with," she cautions.

Boris shared how she was almost the victim of a phishing email when she stopped her snail mail with the post office. About a week after her return, she received an email from the "post office" indicating that her mail stop was finished but that she had a package to pick up and all she had to do was click the link in the email. When she took a closer look at the email address, she realized it was a phishing email. "Those are the types of things that we see more of, and that's something that you have to be hypervigilant and more careful about what you're clicking on…I think we're seeing better phishing schemes because of AI."

Education also plays an important role in protecting clients. Chubb uses its website and periodic emails to clients to advise them about the risks associated with social engineering and phishing scams, as well as ways to safely use GenAI and other technologies.

A new AI-related risk involves deepfakes, or the ability to spoof a person's voice or likeness. There has been an increase in scammers reaching out to grandparents and pretending to be a grandchild in distress and asking for money for a seemingly legitimate reason. "We know that AI can generate deepfakes, so people have to be vigilant about calls that are coming in," warns Boris. She adds that most people are good about not answering numbers they don't recognize, but she said it's possible for AI to spoof phone numbers now. She suggests creating a family "safe word" that can be used to verify whether or not a call or request is legitimate. It's an easy way to protect family members from falling prey to a seemingly realistic extortion scheme.

Cyber insurance is a familiar coverage for business but including it in personal lines is becoming more common. Boris explains that Chubb's personal lines coverage includes assistance in the event a customer's identity is stolen and used to for activities such as opening a credit card or taking out a mortgage on a home. "They can contact a Chubb claim specialist who will put them in touch with an identity fraud specialist who can walk them through the process of doing things like contacting the police to report what has occurred, and also help them with any expenses that are needed to contact credit monitoring agencies and help them clean up their credit if it's impacted by identity theft."

In addition, Chubb offers cybersecurity coverage as an additional endorsement to the homeowners policy to help if there is a cyberattack that leads to the loss of funds or in the event the cyberattack affects multiple smart devices in the home or even losses due to social engineering scams.

Being proactive is critical and Boris offers several tips for staying safe in today's connected world.

1.       Slow down: Everyone gets a lot of emails, but take time to carefully review them. If something doesn't look right (e.g., the sender, email address), it probably isn't.
2.       Be wary of answering calls from unknown numbers.
3.       Never give personal information over the phone if someone is calling and asking for account numbers, personally identifiable information or trying to trick you into thinking they are from a bank or credit card company and just trying to verify your information. Call the company to confirm.
4.       Create strong passwords and use dual-factor authentication.
5.       Help family members understand and protect against these risks, especially for connected devices and accounts.

She recognizes that talking to children about online safety can be a little scary, but she encourages parents to have these conversations "because they are using the devices, and we just want to keep them safe."