The overall damage dealt by the SolarWinds incident is still be determined, but the event could send shockwaves through the cyber insurance market, as it highlights the massive exposures this sector must contend with as hackers revamp their approaches.
Brian Krebs, a well-known security and cybercrimes journalist, noted the SolarWinds incident might have exposed as many as 18,000 customers after installing what they thought were routine software updates. However, hackers injected malware into the update. This gave the malicious actors, who are believed to be Russian-backed, undetected and unfettered access to high-value data.
“SolarWinds will have a chilling effect on the market,” Seth Rachlin, executive vice president and insurance lead at Capgemini, told PropertyCasualty360.com. “The most interesting aspect is that it is a supply chain attack.”
Steve Hallo NU PropertyCasualty360 3rd Feb 2021
For some carriers, this has been a wake-up call to how pervasive cyberattacks can be. To stay ahead of these developments, Rachlin said insurers need to consider the evolution of cyber insurance products to include more risk management and “protection type” features as opposed to strictly focusing on risk transfer. “Ultimately, cyber insurance is going to demand a level of underwriting precision that is probably higher than any other form of insurance because of the nature of these risks,” he said.
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