© Atul Loke for The New York Times
Any car accident you walk away from is a positive outcome, relatively speaking, but even minor fender benders can cause you a lot of hassle: damage to your vehicle and potential injuries, waiting around for the police to come and make a report, and spending time dealing with insurance. So when someone hits your car and then just offers you some cash if you agree to skip all that trouble, you might be tempted.
It seems like they’re making it easy for you, after all—admitting fault and offering compensation without paperwork, delays, or conflict. And their motivation is obvious and understandable—they don’t want their insurance rates to go up, or they’re doing something shady like driving without insurance and want to avoid trouble.
But for all the seeming upsides, there is only a very narrow set of circumstances when taking cash after an accident might be good idea—and even if you decide to do it, you should still document the accident.
There are a lot of possible downsides to accepting cash to just drive away from an accident that wasn’t your fault:
Hidden damage. The accident might seem minor, and your car might show no obvious signs of a big problem—at first. If your car starts making a weird noise or handling strangely a day or two later, it’ll be too late.
Hidden injuries. Shock and adrenaline can compensate for a lot, and you might not notice pain or other signs of an injury until much later. If you can’t make an insurance claim, those medical costs will be on you.
Extra costs. If your car is damaged enough to keep it at a repair shop for a while, you might need a rental or you might not be able to get to work—and it’s unlikely the wad of cash you took at the scene will cover those extra costs.
Scams. Sometimes drivers pay out cash to keep you from filing a claim stemming from an accident—and then turn around and file a claim with their own insurance to get a payout.
For these reasons, you should always wait for the police to arrive at the scene and make a report, and at the very least get the other driver’s name and insurance info, even if you agree not to file a claim. You might need that information later if the damage to your car is worse than you thought, or you discover you did, in fact, suffer an injury as a result of the accident. If the other driver refuses to provide their insurance information, get their license plate number—your own insurance company may be able to use it to track down their insurer and reach out on your behalf.
Of course, sometimes an accident really is very minor, and taking some money might be the easiest and quickest way to resolve it. But you should be certain of the following before you make that decision:
The car was unoccupied, so injuries aren't a risk. You have to be absolutely certain you were not injured, which means the only time it’s a good idea to accept the cash is if you weren’t in the car at all when it was hit. If you were in the car, even a minor accident could result in injuries you’ll only become aware of later.
It was a very minor accident. Only accept cash if you’re 100% certain that the damage to your car is cosmetic and/or very minor—and you know the cost of the repair with some certainty, or it’s something you know you can fix yourself, or that you won't bother getting fixed at all.
You got a police report. If you have an official record of what happened, you’re protected from future claims—and even if you decide to take cash, you’re probably required by law to report the accident and get a police report.
You have the other driver's information. If you at least have their identity and insurance info, you can avoid future attempts at fraud.
Keep in mind that insurance companies won’t enforce or honor any agreements you might make with the other driver—by accepting cash and not filing a claim, you’re giving up your leverage over the situation. If you’re certain there won’t be any future problems, taking the cash might make sense—but the key word there is “certain.”
US insurance company Globe Life is investigating a data breach involving unauthorized access to consumer and policyholder information.
The post Insurance Company Globe Life Investigating Data Breach appeared first on SecurityWeek.
Health insurance giant Kaiser has announced it will notify millions of patients about a data breach after sharing patients’ data with advertisers.
Kaiser said that an investigation led to the discovery that “certain online technologies, previously installed on its websites and mobile applications, may have transmitted personal information to third-party vendors.”
In the required notice with the US government, Kaiser lists 13.4 million affected individuals. Among these third-party ad vendors are Google, Microsoft, and X. Kaiser said it subsequently removed the tracking code from its websites and mobile apps.
A tracking pixel is a piece of code that website owners can place on their website. The pixel collects data that helps businesses track people and target adverts at them. That’s nice for the advertisers, but the information gathered by these pixels tells them a lot about your browsing behavior, and a lot about you.
This kind of data leak normally happens when a website includes sensitive information in its URLs (web addresses). The URLs you visit are shared with the company that provides the tracking pixel, so if the URL contains sensitive information it will end up in the hands of the tracking company. The good news is that while it’s easy for websites to leak information like this, there is no suggestion that tracking pixel operators are aware of it, or acting on it, and it would probably be hugely impractical for them to do so.
The leaked data includes member names and IP addresses, as well as information that could indicate if members were signed into a Kaiser Permanente account or service, how they interacted with it, how they navigated through the website and mobile applications, and what search terms they used in the health encyclopedia.
A spokesperson said that Kaiser intends to begin notifying the affected current and former members and patients who accessed its websites and mobile apps in May.
Not so long ago, we reported how mental health company Cerebral failed to protect sensitive personal data, and ended up having to pay $7 million. Also due to tracking pixels, so this is a recurring problem we are likely to see lots more of. Research done by TheMarkup in June of 2022 showed that Meta’s pixel could be found on the websites of 33 of the top 100 hospitals in America.
Malwarebytes has a new free tool for you to check how much of your personal data has been exposed online. Submit your email address (it’s best to give the one you most frequently use) to our free Digital Footprint scan and we’ll give you a report and recommendations.
Kashmir Hill has a really good article on how GM tricked its drivers into letting it spy on them—and then sold that data to insurance companies.
Kasmir Hill has the story:
Modern cars are internet-enabled, allowing access to services like navigation, roadside assistance and car apps that drivers can connect to their vehicles to locate them or unlock them remotely. In recent years, automakers, including G.M., Honda, Kia and Hyundai, have started offering optional features in their connected-car apps that rate people’s driving. Some drivers may not realize that, if they turn on these features, the car companies then give information about how they drive to data brokers like LexisNexis [who then sell it to insurance companies].
Automakers and data brokers that have partnered to collect detailed driving data from millions of Americans say they have drivers’ permission to do so. But the existence of these partnerships is nearly invisible to drivers, whose consent is obtained in fine print and murky privacy policies that few read.
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