In 2023, the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, including ransomware attacks, phishing schemes, and advanced persistent threats, poses significant risks to individuals, businesses, and governments. Organizations are grappling with the constant need to fortify their digital defenses, implement multi-layered security measures, and stay ahead of present and emerging threats. Moreover, the proliferation of interconnected devices in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT) has expanded the attack surface, requiring that in the next few years, organizations adapt to KYM (“know your machine”) regulations in addition to KYC (“know your customer”) guardrails.
Risk Trends
As bad actors get more sophisticated and technology evolves, we are seeing new and emergent trends including:
- Double the number of ransomware attacks since this time last year;
- Increase of threat actors, meaning more unnamed variations of threat actors, or threat actors shift between names;
- BlackCat is the most prominent threat actor;
- The use of advanced techniques including AI and automation, is making it harder for organizations to detect and defend.
The most common techniques deployed by threat actors are: phishing, zero-day vulnerabilities, exploitation of out-of-date software, and targeting cloud infrastructure. The best defense against threat actors will always be a robust cyber framework, an educated workforce that understands the threats, and a partner that can identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in advance.
We are also seeing a rise in extortion via ransomware, account compromise via phishing, attacks on vendors, and data breaches. At Cowbell our comprehensive policies are designed to provide coverage for extortion costs, network and privacy security incident response, and a breach fund. You can always contact our underwriting team for more specifics about our offerings.
Highest Risk Sectors in the U.S. (as of Q3 2023)
Zywave Cyber Loss Data showed the following sectors as the highest risk for cyber risk in the U.S.
Prevention as Protection
Cowbell’s Intelligence Team collects and analyzes information to provide valuable insights and support decision-making. This includes threats to Cowbell’s network and to our policyholders’ networks, researching and analyzing cyber events to identify trends threat actors’ current methods, and identifying appropriate controls and mitigation strategies that can be deployed for better protection. Our underwriting team stays current on all emerging industry trends and looks holistically at the landscape to determine risk profiles, perceived threats, and customized coverage.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out and we will be happy to assist.
