The Cyber Insurance Imperative

THE SEC FLEXES ITS MUSCLE. Investment advisors should take note of a fine levied against a firm under the '40 Act last week for allegedly failing to adequately safeguard the firm's clients against identity theft and for not submitting to outside audits in a timely fashion. In this episode, David discusses the impact of the Custody Rule on the management of cyber risk, and notes a potential gap in coverage these firms could face.

EVERY ACTION HAS AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION! Alarmed by the spike in wrongful collection and website tracking claims that have been clogging up the courts in California, both the legislative and judicial branches have taken steps to rein in this flood of litigation. In this episode, David discusses these latest efforts, the exposures that remain, and steps businesses can take to protect themselves from such lawsuits and maximize their insurance coverage when such claims arise.

A "SOS" FROM WITHIN! In a twist reminiscient of captors filiming videos of hostages begging for their own release, threat actors pushed notifications out to the customers of their victim, demanding that a ransom payment be made. In this video, David discusses the significance of this development and offers a way for companies to perform a "gut check" on their cyber resiliency and insurability.

WHEN INDUSTRY POLICES ITSELF: The President's recent announcement of the Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities is an important step toward having technology companies self-regulate the development of AI, but it leaves some key questions unanswered. In this episode, David breaks down what is (and isn't) part of this declaration, and offers businesses a practical solution to promote responsible AI deployment.

CYBER RISK HITS THE BALANCE SHEET. A leading medical products company recently announced that it will be missing its sales and earnings targets due to a cyber attack. In this episode, David discusses the financial impact of the network outage on this company, and offers a caveat to businsses around coverage for claims of investor loss arising from a cyber incident.

SECURITY, LIKE CHARITY, BEGINS AT HOME! In this episode, David sits down with Robert Siciliano of Protect Now to discuss what businesses are getting wrong with security awareness training and the importance of creating what he calls the "Strategic Human Firewall." Statistics around Cyber claims continue to bear out that the majority of incidents are the result of social engineering, and phishing exercises alone won't cure that. Robert's approach is to instill a change in mindset on the part of your staff. If you listen to one episode this season, make it this one!

WHAT'S IN A PEN TEST? In this episode, David sits down with William Wright, Chief Executive Officer of Closed Door Security, to discuss the importance of quality penetration testing to a company's overall cybersecurity and insurability.

LAW FIRMS IN THE CROSSHAIRS. Once again, a major law firm has found itself the victim of a data breach. In this episode, David explains why professional services firms are the frequent target of such attacks, and offers a suggestion on how these firms can improve their security controls and enhance their insurability.

GOING OFF THE RAILS OF THE CRAZY TRAIN! A recent ruling by a Federal judge in a class action lawsuit brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act has put the controversial statute back in focus. In this episode, David discusses the rationale for the judge's ruling as well as the challenging coverage landscape for this category of data privacy litigation.

WRONG WAY, CARRIERS! As recently reported by Claims Journal, underwriters are exploring the adaptation of exclusions across a vast swath of Property & Casualty Insurance policies where the loss arises out of the insured's deployment of AI. In this episode, David discusses why he believes this is a step in the wrong direction, and offers businesses some guidance around optimizing the available coverage for these exposures.