An April cyberattack which you can read about here probably cost the parent company of Great Britain’s largest funeral home operator, Co-op Funeralcare, about a US$ 107 million profit swing but didn’t seem to affect the number of funeral plans sold by the company as they increased over 17% from the previous year.

 

One reason that funeral plans could be increasing in number, according to a survey by Co-op Funeralcare, is that the country is having legislative discussions about an “assisted dying bill” which has made the subject top of mind.

 

The cyberattack, which not only affected the funeral division of Co-op but other divisions as well, ” . . .highlighted many of our strengths. But more importantly, it also highlighted areas we need to focus on,” company CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq commented in the linked article.

 

As to the increase in funeral plans, “The group said the increase in funeral plan sales marked a “strong step forward” in performance, contributing to wider investment in services designed to support members at “moments that matter” according to an article in Funeral Service Times.

 

This article in Insurance Business magazine titled “Major UK retailer’s cyber breach offers lessons for U.S. businesses” is one article I would suggest you read as you think about increased Death Care business technology and the increased use of it by your client families.

 

Funeral Director Daily take:  I can go back 50 years to a “Consumer Education” class in high school where I remember my teacher saying, “It’s always good to be behind in your insurance“.  He did not mean that it was good to be behind in your payments. . . .

 

What he meant and explained is that insurance is good to have and being behind in collecting on insurance claims is a “good thing”. . . . It’s a good thing to be “behind” because if you are collecting on auto insurance you’ve probably had an auto accident and if you are collecting on a claim on your home you’ve probably had an incident at your house, and on and on with health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, etc.

 

Society moves on and new reasons for insurance pop up — such as insurance on the technology your business uses.  Here’s an excerpt from the above linked Insurance Business article as it pertains to the Co-op cyber attack:

 

“Co-op did not have dedicated cyber-insurance in place;” a spokesman told Insurance Business. “Instead of investing in insurance, they chose to invest in enhanced cyber security which ensured they were able to contain the threat and minimise the impact for our members and customers.”

As a result, most of the financial hit will not be recoverable through insurance.”

 

That same article concluded with this paragraph:

 

“As cyber threats continue to evolve, US companies – large and small – should reassess their own preparedness, balancing investments in technology, staff training, and insurance to mitigate the growing risks of cybercrime.”

 

I’m no insurance expert but this incident and the costs involved should prompt all funeral home owners and managers to have this “cybersecurity” insurance discussion with their providers.

 

Related — Here is the website for Co-op Funeralcare

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• New burial laws to modernize German culture.  DW (Germany)
• Human composting is now legal in New Jersey, but don’t break out the shovel just yet.  NJ.com (NJ)
• Scotland to be first part of UK to introduce water cremation.  The Times (Great Britain)

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