In the ever-evolving world of cybercrime, businesses must strive to stay one step ahead of malicious actors. Cyber insurance offers a layer of protection against cyber threats. Still, it shouldn’t be seen as a silver bullet for cybersecurity. An article on IT Security Guru explores this topic in detail. It emphasizes the importance of implementing practical solutions to address security gaps. Here are the key points discussed in the article and how businesses can best protect themselves from cybercrime.
Cyber Insurance: A Risk Management Tool, Not a Solution
The article explains that while cyber insurance can help mitigate some risks associated with online threats, it should not be considered a solution to the problem. As “AIG reports a more than 40% rise in [cyber] insurance premiums” and insurers implement minimum requirements such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), businesses must proactively identify and address their security gaps before relying on insurance as a safeguard measure.
Rising Premiums & Minimum Requirements
Due to increased risk from malicious actors, cyber insurers now charge higher premiums and enforce stricter policies requiring MFA and EDR protocols, among other things, to minimize their exposure. This means businesses must keep up with these changing standards by investing in robust cybersecurity measures rather than relying solely on insurance coverage for protection.
Practical Solutions for Cybersecurity Gaps
Businesses should focus on practical solutions rather than solely relying on a single tool like cyber insurance to protect them against cyber threats. Here are some strategies organizations can employ:
Risk Assessment: Conduct routine risk assessments to identify weaknesses and prioritize actions that reduce your chance of experiencing a cybersecurity incident.
Employee Training: Educate employees about good online security practices, such as recognizing phishing attacks or practising strong password hygiene habits.
Update Software: Stay up to date with all software patches so that known vulnerabilities won’t become an issue down the line.
Incident Response Plan: Develop an effective strategy for responding quickly and efficiently if faced with a potential cyber incident; this will limit the damage done to your organization or data breach occurring before you have time to assess the situation and take action.
Network Segmentation: Restrict access and movement of data through network segmentation so that sensitive information remains secure if there is an attack or breach of any kind; this will limit potential damage caused by malicious actors who might exploit vulnerable networks without segmentation in place.
Regular Testing: Test all your systems regularly using penetration testing or vulnerability scanning tools so you can act quickly if any security flaws are detected; even minor flaws could lead to severe issues later down the line if left unchecked
Unlike the proactive measures above, cyber insurance will only remain most helpful when reacting to a cyber incident. Even then, it has limitations and can dilute the quality of the incident response. This is because the speed at which you can respond to a live cyber incident that has likely been underway for some time relies on the claims process and getting the insurers preferred or partner security team engaged in getting up to speed with your environment without any prior history or knowledge of your systems or setup. These are vital factors to reduce the impact and time taken to identify the Incident of Compromise (IoC) and successfully create a plan to recover from the compromised position.
By investing most or all of an available IT security budget on proactively managing security gaps, you’re able to use the outputs from cyber risk assessments and regular, repeat vulnerability scans to decide the most appropriate controls as you grow, the way you work changes and as the methods of hackers change and evolve. You could focus on employee training, improving patch management regimes and policies, response plans, network segmentation, and more.
Cyber insurance is indeed a valuable risk management tool. However, it’s essential not to overlook that it is not a silver bullet for cybersecurity – organizations still need to implement proper security practices if they want adequate protection from online threats.
Read this article and more by Matthew Roberts, Director of Riela Cyber.