One, presumably unintended, consequence of the use of the term 'warfare' for these cyber attacks is that most organisations' insurance will be invalidated. We're seeing this argument being made in the case of Mondelez...: [...] Carter said the increasing digitisation of society was opening new ways to execute “political warfare” through the use and abuse of information, online espionage, state-backed cyber attacks and intellectual property theft, among other things, often ba
Cyber Insurance
News about insuring cyber risks
Merck Cyberattack’s $1.3 Billion Question: Was It an Act of War?
If the court rules that these large scale attacks are an act of war, then expect to see the cyber insurance market lose most of its premiums...: [...] By the end of 2017, Merck estimated initially in regulatory filings that the malware did $870 million in damages. Among other things, NotPetya so crippled Merck’s production facilities that it couldn’t meet demand that year for Gardasil 9, the leading vaccine against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which can cause cervic
Cybercrime to peak by 2021
The headline is misleading. The article isn't suggesting that somehow cybercrime will decline after 2021, just that it's going to get a lot worse, using the example of the impact of an attack on the top container ports to illustrate the point...: MANILA: The next two years will see a new peak in cybercrime activities, which means newer variety of online attacks and higher gains that will eclipse all previous illegal profits. Looking at it another way, this is probably wha
Vermont town set to recoup money lost in email scam
This is why your organisation needs cyber risk insurance...: NORWICH, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont town will recoup nearly $250,000 lost in an email scam. Norwich Town Manager Herb Durfee says the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the town’s insurer, will cover nearly $169,000. The Valley News reports that in addition to the insured money, Comerica Bank returned nearly $80,000, which leaves Norwich out $1,000, the cost of its insurance deductible. A report released by Nor
Asia-Pac ports underinsured against cyberattacks; one attack could cause up to US$110b in losses
Interesting analysis. Look at the potential losses in an industry segment, then look at the percentage of losses that are insured. Either the companies involved are confident in their operational risk mitigation measures or are massively underinsured...: LOSSES from a cyberattack on ports in Asia-Pacific could range from US$40.8 billion to US$109.8 billion, according to scenarios studied by the Singapore-based Cyber Risk Management (CyRiM) project. But insurance industry
Nork Hydro gives details on initial cyber insurance payout
I'll bet the risk manager that purchased comprehensive cyber insurance is seen as something of a hero within Norsk Hydro...: Norsk Hydro, the aluminium and renewable energy firm that suffered an extensive cyberattack in March, has been compensated and here we’ll tell you the initial payout. In its third quarter results release, the Oslo-headquartered group outlined not only the operational and financial repercussions of the breach but also how much in compensation it has
Cyber Insurance Is Supporting the Fight Against Ransomware
A counter argument to the "Insurance encourages ransomware" statement that's often seen...: [...] And, those who have criticized cyber insurance have some important facts wrong: Ransomware victims are rarely targeted. Why would they be? Targeting victims takes time, research and money. A better strategy for attackers is to target a specific but widespread vulnerability that will quickly cause chaos and distribute links to ransomware to the maximum number of potential vi
Chubb: 2019’s ransomware attacks already outpacing 2018
This is probably no surprise to anyone. I wonder if there's any study of resilience improvements in the light of this ransomware upsurge...: [...] According to the 2019 third quarter edition of Chubb’s Cyber InFocus Report entitled “Adapting to the New Realities of Cyber Risks,” the number of ransomware attacks for 2019 is already overtaking the total number of incidents in 2018. Citing the company’s previous Cyber Index report, the new report says that malware claims record
Survey Suggests Ransomware Broadening Perceptions of Cyber Risks
It seems that the message is (finally) getting through...: [...] Corporate risk managers are increasingly focusing on protecting their enterprises from business interruption after a series of ransomware attacks on government agencies highlighted the peril of losing access to their computer networks, according to a survey released by Zurich Insurance and Advisen on Thursday. “In the past, the most attractive targets were organizations with large databases of personally ide
Conveyancing Searches At Risk By Unprecedented Cyber Attacks
Real world experience and impact of cyber attacks...: [...] Councils across the UK are facing unprecedented numbers of cyber-attacks, with nearly half (49%) of local councils being targeted since the start of 2017, according to Gallagher – one of the world’s largest insurance broking, risk management and consulting services companies. Freedom of information (FOI) requests by Gallagher found that out of the 203 councils that responded, 101 had experienced an attempted cybe