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Lumber Price Spike Means Your Homeowners Clients May Be Underinsured

​Lumber prices are, if you'll pardon the pun, going through the roof.Last Thursday, February 18, the price per 1,000 board feet of lumber on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange hit a record $1,004.90. By the close of trading Friday, it had retreated​ to $997.90, but this was up from $478.30 on October 29. One market watcher speaking to CNBC last week predicted another 30 to 35% increase from current prices. A boom in home renovation activity in the wake of state stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic has boosted demand for lumber and steel, experts report. At the same time, lumber mills expected mass job losses last spring…

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Big I NY Urges DFS to Exempt Inactive Filers From Cybersecurity Requirement

Big I NY and six other producer associations have issued a letter calling on the Department of Financial Services to exempt agents and brokers who maintain licenses but are not engaged in the process of producing insurance business from the full requirements of the cybersecurity regulation (23 NYCRR 500).Such an exemption would eliminate a significant and unnecessary compliance burden on inactive licensees, who pose no risk to customers as they conduct no licensed activities nor hold any customer data. These are typically retired individuals, teachers, or trade association board members who chose to maintain their license for personal reasons.Under the current regulation, individual licensees not engaged…

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DFS: Hackers Targeting Websites That Offer Instant Insurance Quotes

​The New York State Department of Financial Services today issued a warning of a "systemic and aggressive campaign to exploit cybersecurity flaws​" in websites that provide instant insurance quotes. The department urged all entities that it regulates, if they have instant quote websites, to review them for evidence of hacking.The alert, which DFS emailed to regulated entities and posted on its website today​, said that two auto insurers reported attempts by cybercriminals to steal unredacted driver's license numbers. These insurers off instant quotes for auto insurance on their sites. The New York Cybersecurity Requirements For Financial Services Companies regulation requires "covered entities" to report certain…

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