Following a significant storm event, an early learning centre suffered damage from water ingress  to the property and contents of both the operator and the property owner. Immediately following the damage, Bellrock engaged a builder for the ‘make safe’ and clean up of the premises.

The water ingress resulted in high moisture levels, which caused an outbreak of mould forcing the closure of the entire centre. Bellrock appointed a claims preparer and loss manager to lodge a claim for the damage to property, contents and the business interruption. The Bellrock claims team worked closely with the service provider and the property owner to ensure the building was decontaminated and remediated. A strategy was developed to assist families to enrol their children at other centres within the group to minimise disruption to the centre’s clients and business.

The appointed claims preparer conducted an analysis of prior trade to ensure a timely settlement of loss of profits and increased costs of working incurred by the centre during the period of interruption. The claims preparer provided a full and detailed submission to allow timely settlement of the material damage loss.

The policy responded in full for the loss, including the costs to engage the external claims preparer.

A flexi hose failed at early learning centre causing water damage to the ground floor. Bellrock were engaged to manage the claim and immediately appointed a restoration company to assist with drying the floor and preventing further loss. The floor was also lifted to ensure that the moisture could effectively be dispersed, and quotations were obtained to remediate the damage.  The policyholder’s policy responded for the costs incurred in cleaning up and rectifying the damage.

The policyholder was contacted by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) who advised them that their information was discovered on the dark web. Upon being informed Bellrock contacted the insurer’s Incident Response Hotline on behalf of our client.

The Incident Response Team immediately engaged Digital Forensic and Incident Response (DFIR) experts to investigate the incident. The DFIR expert soon confirmed that the threat actor had gained access to the insured’s IT via the Fortigate SSL VPN, and brute forced the login credentials to the local guest account. DFIR also confirmed that the threat actor’s access was limited to the local guest account, though they had been in the policyholder’s system for just over 1 month.

When the policyholder was advised of the incident by the ASD they also involved their Managed Service Provider (MSP) who secured the system immediately by disabling the guest account which had been compromised. Fortunately, whilst the threat actor did have access to the system for an extended period, there was no evidence of access to or exfiltration of personal information or other data.

In this instance, the client’s swift response in informing Bellrock, enabled our team to take immediate action with the insurer, limiting the threat actor’s opportunity to deploy ransomware and access and exfiltrate data.

A child was injured during play and complained of pain in their arm after returning home. A subsequent examination and x-ray determined that the child had fractured their clavicle. Bellrock were engaged to provide comfort and assistance to the parent of the child and arranged for settlement of a lump sum payment as well as loss of income, ongoing medical expenses and travel costs incurred.