Cyber Insurance | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

In an era where digital transformation drives business across sectors, cybersecurity has transcended its traditional operational role to become a cornerstone of corporate strategy and risk management. This evolution demands a shift in how cybersecurity leaders—particularly Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs)—articulate the value and urgency of cybersecurity investments to their boards.  The Strategic Importance of Cybersecurity Cybersecurity is no longer a backroom IT concern but a pivotal agenda item in boardroom discussions. The surge in cyber threats, coupled with their capacity to disrupt business operations, erode customer trust, and incur significant financial losses, underscores the strategic value of robust cybersecurity measures. Moreover, as companies increasingly integrate digital technologies into their core operations, the significance of cybersecurity in safeguarding corporate assets and reputation continues to rise. The Current State of Cybersecurity in Corpo

IT professionals have developed a sophisticated understanding of the enterprise attack surface – what it is, how to quantify it and how to manage it.  The process is simple: begin by thoroughly assessing the attack surface, encompassing the entire IT environment. Identify all potential entry and exit points where unauthorized access could occur. Strengthen these vulnerable points using available market tools and expertise to achieve the desired cybersecurity posture.  While conceptually straightforward, this is an incredibly tedious task that consumes the working hours of CISOs and their organizations. Both the enumeration and the fortification pose challenges: large organizations use a vast array of technologies, such as server and endpoint platforms, network devices, and business apps. Reinforcing each of these components becomes a frustrating exercise in integration with access control, logging, patching, monitoring, and more, creating a seemingly endless list of tasks.  However

The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo

The ransomware strain known as  Play  is now being offered to other threat actors "as a service," new evidence unearthed by Adlumin has revealed. "The unusual lack of even small variations between attacks suggests that they are being carried out by affiliates who have purchased the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) and are following step-by-step instructions from playbooks delivered with it," the cybersecurity company said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The findings are based on various Play ransomware attacks tracked by Adlumin spanning different sectors that incorporated almost identical tactics and in the same sequence. This includes the use of the public music folder (C:\...\public\music) to hide the malicious file, the same password to create high-privilege accounts, and both attacks, and the same commands. Play , also called Balloonfly and PlayCrypt, first came to light in June 2022, leveraging security flaws in Microsoft Exchange Server – i.e., 

As technology advances and organizations become more reliant on data, the risks associated with data breaches and cyber-attacks also increase. The introduction of data privacy laws, such as the GDPR, has made it mandatory for organizations to disclose breaches of personal data to those affected. As such, it has become essential for businesses to protect themselves from the financial and reputational costs of cyber incidents. One solution to help organizations protect themselves is cyber insurance, despite the rising costs of cyber insurance, where the average  price in the U.S. rose 79%  in the second quarter of 2022. Also, with strict eligibility requirements that have emerged in response to risk and sharp spikes in successful breaches during and post-COVID-19, cyber insurance remains essential for organizations to protect sensitive customer information and their own data from falling into the wrong hands. While cyber insurance is not a one-size-fits-all solution and may not cover

As technology advances, cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated. With the increasing use of technology in our daily lives, cybercrime is on the rise, as evidenced by the fact that cyberattacks caused  92% of all data breaches  in the first quarter of 2022. Staying current with cybersecurity trends and laws is crucial to combat these threats, which can significantly impact business development.  In 2023, the cybersecurity market is expected to see new trends, and businesses must be adequately prepared for any developments. Andrey Slastenov, Head of Web Security at Gcore, shares his insights on these trends in this article. 1 —  Application security As businesses shifted online to stay afloat during the pandemic, the forecast for application security spending is projected to surpass $7.5 billion, according to  Statista . Source However, every application might be susceptible to hacking, zero-day attacks, and identity theft. Ensuring application security demands professionals w

Have you ever stopped to think about the potential consequences of a cyberattack on your organization? It's getting more intense and destructive every day, and organizations are feeling the heat. That's why more and more businesses are turning to  cyber insurance  to find some much-needed peace of mind. Imagine, in the unfortunate event of a successful security breach or ransomware attack, the right policy can help minimize liability and contain losses. However, skyrocketing claims in 2020 sent shockwaves through the insurance industry, forcing insurance providers to reinvent the criteria for acquiring or renewing cyber insurance. As a result, businesses are now navigating a dramatically altered terrain where they must prove their ability to defend against ransomware attacks. This includes implementing a wide range of robust security measures, particularly around identity protection requirements such as MFA coverage and service account protection. The new identity protectio

With cyberattacks around the world escalating rapidly, insurance companies are ramping up the requirements to qualify for a cyber insurance policy.  Ransomware attacks were up 80% last year , prompting underwriters to put in place a number of new provisions designed to prevent ransomware and stem the record number of claims. Among these are a mandate to enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all admin access in a network environment as well as protect all privileged accounts, specifically machine-to-machine connections known as service accounts.  But identifying MFA and privileged account protection gaps within an environment can be extremely challenging for organizations, as there is no utility among the most commonly used security and identity products that can actually provide this visibility. In this article, we'll explore these identity protection challenges and suggest steps organizations can take to overcome them, including signing up for a  free identity risk a

In the world of insurance providers and policies, cyber insurance is a fairly new field. And many security teams are trying to wrap their heads around it.  What is it and do they need it? And with what time will they spend researching how to integrate cyber insurance into their strategy?  For small security teams, this is particularly challenging as they contend with limited resources. Luckily, there's a  new eBook  dedicated to helping small security teams better understand cyber insurance policies and how they may impact an organization's cybersecurity measures. Background In 1997, the "Internet Security Liability" (ISL) insurance policy was launched at the International Risk Insurance Management Society's convention in Honolulu. Underwritten by AIG, ISL insurance was designed to protect ecommerce retailers like Amazon that were collecting sensitive customer data and storing it on internal networks. It is credited as one of the very first cyber insurance policies to be made ava