Suppose an anonymous individual tricks you out of money and makes a clean getaway. There is zero chance you will learn his or her identity or see them brought to justice. You feel anger, fear and helplessness all at once. Worried about your reputation and bottom line, you realize an insurance policy might cover the incident and save the day. Racing through the claims process, it becomes clear that everything suddenly hinges on whether your money was “lost,” or “stolen.” “What’s the difference?” you think, “I’m the victim either way!” Now imagine this was a cybercrime incident and there is $6 million riding on the digital difference between “lost” and “stolen” – between whether an insurer pays or walks away. Everything comes down to proving a sequence of mouse clicks and lines of code at the crime scene. How prepared would you be to know with certainty what your cyber insurance policy covers and prove what happened – while the clock is ticking?
Welcome to the escalating stakes of cyber insurance, where digital threats like ransomware or a CFO’s hijacked e-mail account are upending decades of norms and assumptions when it comes to transferring risk.
As critical as cyber insurance becomes for more organizations, particularly mid-market businesses, the noise and distraction of cyber risk headlines lead many to overlook factors ultimately determining the fate of their coverage and claims.
Of these hidden factors, the crucial role of digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) experts and services is paramount. But what is DFIR? Why is it so crucial in the fast-moving world of cyber insurance? We’ll share patterns in attacks, the need for digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) and the importance of reporting as it relates to paying out insurance claims in our Cyber Insurance Whitepaper, Why DFIR is Needed in Partnership with Cyber Insurance.
