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Every organization must have an effective process for monitoring for and remediating vulnerabilities to reduce the opportunities for exploitation by a malicious actor.
Financial security software#
Maintain good security hygiene by keeping software up to date and applying all patches when they become available. Security measures must fully encompass end-user devices, network infrastructure like servers and routers, cloud accounts, IoT devices, applications, gateways and firewalls, as well as everything else that originates, stores or traverses data. One of the best ways to prevent, or at least quickly detect, cyberattacks and data breaches is to continuously monitor for indicators of compromise across the entire environment and respond to possible threats in real time. The organization must implement and maintain comprehensive and robust cybersecurity measures. This lowers risk, which in turn can lower the cost of cyber insurance.
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This makes it difficult for a hacker, or even a malicious insider, to get at and steal data. Zero-trust strategies hide data behind access gates that have multiple layers of verification. When possible, organizations should adopt a zero-trust posture for their most sensitive information. Many security tools today can report on an organization’s level of compliance with major regulations and identify where compliance falls short.
Financial security how to#
Regulations are designed to help protect PII and other sensitive information, and even though they may not prescribe exactly how to implement the protections, they provide good guidance on what needs to be done. It's important to maintain compliance with data security and privacy regulations such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA and GDPR. Furthermore, the company must ensure PII is encrypted, reduce access permissions and establish an acceptable use policy. Tips for minimizing the volume of PII include identifying everywhere it's located, eliminating duplicate sets of data and deleting unneeded data. Attaining and exploiting PII is often the goal of a cyberattack, and having a high volume of it puts the company at higher risk, which subsequently raises cyber insurance premiums. The organization should minimize the amount of personally identifiable information (PII) under its control. This process allows an organization to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities and reduce risk and is something that should be done regardless of whether or not the company intends to buy cyber insurance. Cyber insurance premiums are, in part, based on the results of a risk assessment. Start with a comprehensive risk assessment of the entire environment. With that in mind, here are a few strategies for optimizing the cost of cyber insurance.
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The cost of cyber insurance varies greatly according to the size of the organization, the industry and type of business, the amount of personal or sensitive information it keeps, the extent of coverage the organization wants, the state of its security hygiene and the organization’s overall risk profile. The Howden report points out that "cyber security hygiene is therefore crucial for companies looking to purchase cyber insurance," as well as to attain "favorable pricing and terms." Reducing Cyber Risk Is Key To Reducing Insurance Costs
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A high priority is placed on an organization’s cyber security hygiene and risk and resilience programs. Another contributing factor is the worldwide regulatory environment that's tightening requirements for companies to protect privacy, report data breaches and provide compensation to victims whose personal information has been exposed.Ĭonsequently, insurance providers are being much more selective in which companies they insure.
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Such attacks make it much more likely that an insurance provider must pay out on claims. The increasing costs and prevalence of ransomware and other types of attacks are two reasons for the price jump.
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