Although it sounds ethereal, cloud computing is very real and is rapidly being adopted by hundreds of thousands of businesses around the world. With the use of applications like Salesforce, as well as social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, nearly every business has data on a cloud provider, whether they realise it or not.

Outsourcing data, however, is quickly becoming a growing issue. When companies choose to place their data on cloud services, contracts are rarely negotiated meaning standard protections are often not put in place. Control is simply given away, and companies have to rely largely on faith that their most precious commodity will remain safe and secure. However, accidents happen and some of the largest cloud operators, including Dropbox and Amazon Web Services, have suffered significant data breaches.

The problem is that most cyber liability policies are focused on the client’s own systems, not those of third parties. In fact, many cyber insurances use outdated forms which do not address emerging privacy risks like outsourced data storage, even though these risks make up such a large part of a company’s cyber exposure.

Recogising this gap in cover, we’ve updated our CPM product to include cover for data stored in the cloud. This means that regardless of how or where your data is stored our policy will respond.

To read more about this in Insurance Journal, click here. For the article in Insurance Age, click here. Alternatively, click here to email us with any questions you may have.

In the insurance business: Risk = Threat x Vulnerability x Impact... ooh don't think about impact...

This year, we asked brokers to take a picture with the theme “risky situations” and submit the photo along with a caption for voting on our promotional blog. Those with the three highest vote counts at midday on Tuesday, January 3rd would win three fantastic prizes!

We got tons of fantastic entries and close to a thousand votes were cast but alas, only three could claim a prize. Here they are:

First: Aliya Daya, Rogers Insurance (Right) (iPad 2)
Second: David Gray, Jones Brown (Nikon P500 Camera)
Third: Joe Smith, Crouse and Associates (Amazon Kindle)

Besides some awesome photo submissions, you can also see last year’s winners, an array of pathetic Christmas jokes and other festive entertainment on the blog. It’s still up and running so feel free to check it out. Simply go to www.cfcpromotions.com and to those of you who participated, thank you!

CFC is so pleased to announce that it’s been voted Underwriting Team of the Year at the prestigious Insurance Day London Market Awards. This follows 2010’s British Insurance Award for Underwriter of the Year.

Managing Director, David Walsh collected the award on the night. He commented: “I’m very proud to accept this award on behalf of everyone at CFC. We don’t do what we do to win awards, we do it because we strive for the best for our brokers and their clients, but it’s humbling to receive this recognition from the heart of the London market insurance establishment. We’re delighted.”

In considering this award, the notable panel of judges were looking for the company that had achieved what was in their words the ‘remarkably difficult task’ of delivering great service for brokers, ground breaking products and strong growth. CFC ticked all the boxes.

The award was presented on 1st December 2011 at London’s Grosvenor Hotel in a glittering ceremony to mark the tenth year of this most prestigious and hotly contested event.

Thanks so much to everyone who made it out to out first annual Halloween party! The night was a success and below are the pics to prove it! If you missed us this year, don’t worry. We’ll be back in full force next year. We’re already thinking about our costumes…

We just wanted to let you know that we’ve just posted a handful of new videos on our website! Adding to our existing set which includes policy overview videos for much of our tech suite, RES, A&M, LTC and MD as well as technical briefings such as business interruption and breach of contract, we’ve recently added a PRO product information video and a video which explores vicarious liability and how it affects recruitment agencies. In addition, there is now a 2-part video series which clarifies the subtleties between “claims made” and “claims made and reported” and how CFC addresses this part of cover.

It’s not as easy as it looks, however. We’ve also posted our first bloopers video. Whilst browsing the video selection on our website, make sure you watch us make fools of ourselves and please excuse our language!

Check back periodically as this section of our website will be continually updated with new material. You can expect more to trickle out in the coming months. Enjoy!