Insurance Industry Lagging Behind in Using IoT Data

The insurance industry trails other sectors in effectively harnessing new data sources such as the Internet of Things, or IoT, and may have a harder time keeping pace with customer demand and achieving competitive advantage, according to a recent survey from LexisNexis.

Erin Ayers, Insurance industry lagging behind in using IoT data (March 22, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

A Sobering Truth: Cyber is ‘Tool of First Resort’ in Conflict

LONDON—Get your act together, folks. Cyber is going to change the way we fight and you’d best start thinking more in those terms.

For one man, this fact was good for business. General Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of the Joint Forces Command, told a packed room at the Advisen Cyber Risk Insights Conference here on March 7 that cyber is now the “tool of first resort” in conflict.

Cyber attacks are effective, and more importantly, they are easier and cheaper to carry out in order to “bend the will of an opponent” or “just bring life to a halt,” Barrons said to the captivated audience. As examples, Barrons mentioned North Korea’s attack on Sony, Russia’s attacks on Estonia and the Ukraine power grid, and the Dyn attack by a yet unknown perpetrator. The point is to “destabilize and weaken” an enemy,” he said.

Chad Hemenway, A sobering truth: Cyber is ‘tool of first resort’ in conflict (March 20, 2017), available with subscription at Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

Silent Cyber Coverage: The Reckoning

If the headline sounds like a title to a horror movie, that may be appropriate because according to panelists here at Advisen’s Cyber Risk Insights Conference, detecting “silent” cyber coverage risks is a nightmare.

Due to an increasingly complex interconnected world, the potential for a cataclysmic cyber event cascading across multiple lines of coverage casts a shadow over the industry.

The issue is “far more of a concern than affirmative cyber [coverage] we underwrite and price,” said Brad Gow, senior vice president at Endurance. “We’re talking about legacy lines of business drafted far before this was a concern. With the Internet of Things, the attack surface grows exponentially.”

Chad Hemenway, Silent cyber coverage: The reckoning (February 24, 2017), available with subscription at Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

Nine Out of 10 Businesses Experienced Hacking Attempts: HSB Survey

A new Hartford Steam Boiler study finds that 90 percent of businesses experienced a hacking attempt last year, up 21 percent from the year before, according to risk managers. Nearly a quarter of businesses (22 percent) saw more than 15 hacking attempts, the survey revealed.

“Hackers are even more relentless,” said Eric Cernak, cyber practice leader for Munich Re, parent company of HSB.

Erin Ayers, Nine out of 10 businesses experienced hacking attempts: HSB survey (May 23, 2016), available with subscription at Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

Organizations Worry About Keeping Sensitive Data in the Cloud—But Still Do It

Organizations claim to know where their sensitive data is located, but security firm Vormetric isn’t so sure, based on the results of its 2016 Data Threat Report, which found that while 43 percent of respondents say they have “complete knowledge” of their data, respondents also say that “lack of knowledge” of data amid the rise of cloud and mobile computing is a barrier to effective security.

“At the very least, the results are highly counterintuitive and could suggest that our prior conceptions about the need for data discovery and classification were actually misconceptions. At worst, the results suggest many firms are in denial about how much sensitive data they have and where it’s located, which could be a harbinger of continued damaging data breaches,” Vormetric said in the report completed with the assistance of research firm 451 Research.

Erin Ayers, Organizations worry about keeping sensitive data in the cloud—but still do it, Advisen News (March 8, 2016), available with subscription at Advisen Cyber Front Page News. Subscribe now!

SwissRe Sees Biggest Risk for Business Insurers in the Internet of Things

Emerging risks with the highest short-term potential impact for insurance are so-called super natural catastrophes, de-globalization and the “great monetary experiment,” according to SwissRe.

The wholesale provider of reinsurance and insurance said it crowdsourced its own risk managers to identify and evaluate new threats in the third edition of its SONAR report. Highlights include pandemic risks, the proliferation of vertical cities and the dangers of LED light.

Advisen Ltd.

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