Cyber crime -Another retailer hacked
Outdoor clothing retailer Eddie Bauer has reported that its point-of-sale payment card system has been infected by malware.
The firm says that customers who have made a purchase at any of its 360 stores across the US and Canada this year should check card statements for unusual activity. Online payments were not affected.
“The security of our customers’ information is a top priority for Eddie Bauer,” said Mike Egeck, Chief Executive Officer of Eddie Bauer. “We have been working closely with the FBI, cyber security experts, and payment card organizations, and want to assure our customers that we have fully identified and contained the incident and that no customers will be responsible for any fraudulent charges to their accounts. In addition, we’ve taken steps to strengthen the security of our point of sale systems to prevent this from happening in the future.”
The potentially affected transactions were between Jan 2 and July 17 2016.
China’s insurance market growing fast
The Chinese insurance market is experiencing exponential growth and is expected to become the second largest in the world by the end of 2016, overtaking Japan.
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission says that in the first half of the year, the insurance market has grown 37.3 per cent compared to the same period of 2015.
The pace has increased from 20 per cent in the first half of 2015 compared to the first half of 2014, which in turn was 17.5 per cent higher than in 2013.
The report says that there are now 330 million policyholders in China.
Hurricane losses set to triple says study
The devastating impact of hurricanes is set to intensify with the economic impact outpacing growth.
The stark warning prediction has been made in a report by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change in Germany which cites the crippling results of hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.
“Our analysis for the United States shows that high income does not protect against hurricane losses. As the number and intensity of tropical cyclones is projected to increase under unchecked global warming, by the end of the century average hurricane losses with respect to national GDP could triple,” says Potsdam’s Tobias Geiger.
The study contradicts the common opinion that damage from hurricanes will be mitigated by economic growth.
