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Non-Life

A massive ransomware attack has hit more than 1,000 companies

The impact of the attack is only beginning to come to light. In Sweden, a majority of grocery chain Coop’s more than 800 stores couldn’t open on Saturday after the attack led to a malfunction of their cash registers, spokesperson Therese Knapp told Bloomberg News.

There are victims in 11 countries so far, according to research published by cybersecurity firm ESET.

The hackers were identified as the Russia-linked ransomware group REvil, which was accused last month of hacking giant meatpacker JBS SA.

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Covid jabs to key workers, then elderly followed by comorbid people of 24-60 yrs hikes impact: Study

Highlighting the findings of the study, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said in low-intensity transmission areas such as sparsely populated areas, vaccinating individuals with comorbidity after key workers and then reaching out to those above 60 years appears to be an elegant public health approach.

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Insurers’ response to COVID-19 pandemic has damaged their reputation, finds GlobalData

Ben Carey-Evans, Insurance Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The pandemic has undoubtedly been an extremely difficult situation for insurers. Claims in some lines have soared and a lot of lines have become hard to insure. The biggest factor behind the industry’s reputational damage is likely to be the legal battles around business interruption claims throughout 2020.

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Reinsurance rate increases continued for most major lines and territories during July 1 renewals:Willis Re

Momentum continued in the catastrophe bond market, which saw around US$6 billion of new issues in the second quarter of 2021, outstripping all new cat bond capacity issued in 2019. Significant investment inflows have narrowed margins and encouraged new cat-bond cedants.
James Kent, Global CEO of Willis Re, said: “The global reinsurance market is moving towards an equilibrium. Reinsurers, backed by resilient investors delivering an increasing capital base, are robust and well positioned to provide the long-term support their clients expect and need. However, we are approaching the top of a cycle which we believe is unlikely to precede a precipitous and damaging decline in rates. Instead, the market is likely to retain its discipline in order to maintain the balance it has achieved over the past couple of years especially with the full picture of losses from COVID-19 and prior year liability lines still to emerge.”

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Cyber laws, rules, and guidance must be workable, risk-based, clear, transparent, and consistently applied across companies and jurisdictions:US Insurers

Insurance is an important economic recovery resource for victims of ransomware attacks.  Prohibitions on the reimbursement of legal ransom payments presents potential unintended consequence such as eliminating a meaningful risk management resource.
Insurance policy and underwriting activities should not be misconstrued as cybersecurity risk assessments, which provide the insured with confidence that their security measures are sufficient to avoid or eliminate ransomware attacks. 

Insurance is an important economic recovery resource for victims of ransomware attacks.  Prohibitions on the reimbursement of legal ransom payments presents potential unintended consequence such as eliminating a meaningful risk management resource. 
Like a customer’s decision on how to manage cyber risk, insurers must also be able to determine their risk appetite through careful underwriting and appropriate coverage offerings.  

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