Cyber-attacks, hackers and phishing are more prominent today than ever before and we all must protect ourselves both personally and professionally.
EVERYONE has a CYBER EXPOSURE.
As a Managing Underwriting Agency, not only do we provide insurance products that provide protection for businesses and individuals, like our standalone Personal Cyber and Cyber for business programs, we are also here to help educate our partners on the risks we face every day from cybercriminals.
If you receive an unusual email from what appears to be Premier or another trusted business partner or individual, you should treat it as a possible phishing attempt. Sometimes such emails will suggest a sense of urgency, stress that you should take immediate action, ask you to provide personal or sensitive information such as account information or passwords, or even request you purchase gift cards and email the PIN.
Pretending to be a company or person you trust is a typical method fraudsters use to try pressure you into taking action before checking if an email is from a safe and trusted source. Recently, a handful of our partners received phishing emails, designed to look like a request from Premier asking them to update their current payment method. These emails were part of a phishing campaign designed to trick brokers into sharing information. They were sent an email from a cybercriminal group suggesting to be Premier, however the email they used originated from @prenniergroup.com, which is not Premier’s email address.
Verifying the senders email address, is one example of how you can identify if you have received a phishing email.
In this case, even though the emails did not originate from Premier, we informed both the RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department of this activity.
Helpful hints if you believe you have received a phishing email:
- Do not click on any links or open any attachments;
- If you have an IT team or IT Service Provider, we recommend contacting them immediately;
- Contact the person or organization and confirm they have sent you the email in question;
- If you are a victim of a cybercrime, recommend that you report it to your local police;
- If it is a phishing email, you can also report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), which collects information and criminal intelligence on fraud.
If you believe you have received a phishing email from cybercriminals misrepresenting themselves as Premier, please contact Karen Hopkins-Lee – Privacy Officer at karen.hopkinslee@premiergroup.ca, at your earliest convenience, and do not act on any instructions within the email.
Cyber security and awareness is important for both businesses and individuals to ensure everyone is protected from cyber scams and fraudsters! Contact Premier for a Cyber quote today!