Every industrial cybersecurity question demands a tailor-made answer and solution. Our focused team of professionals who understand your business are here to assist your company in securing your mission critical facilities to the highest level.
Ransomware is one of the biggest cybersecurity problems facing businesses today. To cover financial risks, including the handling of cyber incidents, it is now easy to take out Cyber insurance. However, some critics argue that insurance encourages ransomware victims to simply pay the ransom then covered by the insurance companies, rather than having enough security to deter hackers in the first place.
Some ransomware gangs are even actively looking for victims with cyber insurance, as this is the best way to guarantee that they will monetize encryption campaigns. Some ransomware victims and their insurance companies see paying a ransom as the cheapest option because refusing can lead to months of downtime and huge costs to restore IT infrastructure.
It is not illegal to pay a ransom to cyber criminals, but security agencies warn that this will give cyber criminals the financial resources to carry out further attacks. Allowing policy holders to claim ransom from insurance companies could exacerbate the ransomware problem, but the money spent on cyber insurance could also be used to improve security.
Insurance companies should require minimal ransomware checks, as part of any ransomware coverage. These controls include timely patching of critical vulnerabilities in remote-facing IT structures, enabling multi-factor authentication on remote access services, limiting lateral movement by applying network segmentation, and implementing procedures to ensure regular updates and backups are made.
Currently, insurance companies are already raising premiums and imposing stricter requirements on cybersecurity strategies. In addition, the amounts of cover they are willing to offer are reduced.
The impact of ransomware on the cyber insurance industry highlights the need to act quickly as some insurance companies risk being overwhelmed by losses.