The Future of Cyber Defense

A Q&A with Wyatt Hoffman of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

As cyber-attacks continue to mount, private organizations are ramping up their security activities, and many wonder whether “active cyber defense” is the answer. Of course, what constitutes “active cyber defense” is an emerging debate for international lawmakers and policy makers, says Carnegie Endowment for International Peace senior research analyst Wyatt Hoffman. I asked him about this concept and the related issues at hand.

NetDiligence Security & Privacy Advisory – California Consumer Privacy Act

NetDiligence® Security/Privacy Advisory – June 28^th, 2018
California Consumer Privacy Act (2018) Becomes Law; Takes Effect 1/1/2020

This NetDiligence Security/Privacy Advisory is published for the benefit of our cyber insurance carrier/broker clients and their insureds. We urge clients to take special note of the details included in this Advisory and take preventative/remedial action on a timely basis. Clients are welcomed to distribute this Advisory to their colleagues and others as they see fit, provided it is distributed without modification of its contents.

Today, June 28^th, 2018, marks a turning point in consumer data privacy protection in the United States, as California enacts the strongest such law in the country, giving consumers greater rights to restrict how private businesses collect and share/sell their personally identifiable information with third parties.

The Equifax Cybersecurity Ruling: The Future of Cyber Breach Litigation?

A Q&A with Michelle Visser of Ropes & Gray LLP

The recent ruling that Massachusetts’ Attorney General can move forward with its suit against Equifax portends a new era in data breach litigation and regulation. To find out more about this case and what it means for corporate risk, I spoke with Michelle Visser, a Massachusetts-licensed attorney with the global law firm Ropes & Gray LLP.

Cyber Risk and Community Banks

A Q&A with Brian Schaeffer of OceanFirst Bank N.A.

It’s a given that cyber attackers will target financial institutions but community banks and credit unions may be more vulnerable, with fewer resources to devote to security and the assumption, among perpetrators, that they’re an easier mark. I spoke to Brian Schaeffer, Chief Information Security Officer of OceanFirst Bank, a $7.4 billion asset Bank based in New Jersey, about the current risk landscape for smaller financial institutions and how they can best prepare to face off against these threats.

Machine Learning and Threat Detection

A Q&A with Jim Leonard of InfoArmor

One of the newer and potentially more promising weapons being deployed in the battle for cyber security is machine learning, in which systems can improve themselves based on experience and previous data. We asked Jim Leonard, Director with the Advanced Threat Intelligence unit at InfoArmor for some insight on this technology and how it might help mitigate threats.

Cyber Risk for Public Entities

A Q&A with Thom Rickert of Trident Public Risk Solutions

Thom Rickert, vice president, emerging risks specialist for Trident Public Risk Solutions – Argo Group US, has specialized in public entity insurance for 35 years. In light of recent public entity cyber breaches like the ransomware attack we saw in Atlanta in March 2018, Rickert is increasingly concerned about how public entities can control and mitigate cyber risk. In our conversation, he explained why so many of these organizations are vulnerable and what can be done to shore up their security.

Auditing the Data Hiding in Plain Sight

A Q&A with Chris Pillay of Meridian Technologies

An often-overlooked risk in cyber security is software development and testing, which is often done in house in large companies. To test software, engineers utilize either scrubbed data and where the process of scrubbing personally identifiable information is too complex, costly or time-consuming, live data is used, posing serious security and privacy risks. I learned more about this issue by talking to Chris Pillay, CEO of Meridian Technologies.

Improving Password Management

A Q&A with Stewart Atkinson of Dashlane

Too often, data breach incidents can be traced to poorly managed passwords, underscoring the fact that humans are almost always the weak link. Yet with so many functions both in and outside the office requiring the use of usernames and passwords, maintaining proper password hygiene can be a challenge. I spoke to Stewart Atkinson of Dashlane (a password vault solution) about this risk exposure and how to ensure that preventable data loss isn’t an imminent threat to your company.

Privacy Ethics and Wrongful Collection of Data

A Q&A with Andy Sambandam of Clarip, Inc.

Wrongful collection of private data often occurs unwittingly on the part of both consumers and the companies tracking them. I talked to Andy Sambandam, founder and CEO of Clarip, Inc., a software as a service data privacy platform, about how individuals and organizations can be more savvy about the data collection in every day internet usage and the risks associated with it.

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