Cyber is us.

Prevention

Cyber criminals are attacking digital systems of businesses and private households with the goal of stealing or manipulating sensitive data. They are primarily focused on illegally generated financial gains to the detriment of the victim, but sometimes the intention is only pure destruction. The loss of critical data, means of payment, disabled IT systems, reputational damage, as well as claims for damages by third parties are all classic consequences of such attacks. You can’t completely eliminate these risks through preventive measures, but you can significantly reduce them.

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• Identify Risks

  Prevention begins with the identification and assessment of risks. Only those who know which IT systems are in use in the company, which software is on these devices and how it is kept up-to-date, which data is handled in the company, can take appropriate technical protection measures and define the appropriate rules.

  Further potential targets of attack must be understood and evaluated, such as means of payment and accounts, as well as the online presence of the company and individual persons.

  From the resulting risk assessment, necessary technical and organizational measures must be decided on and implemented.

• Take Action

  There are two main categories of cyber protection measures: technical and organizational. There are standards and guidelines that help define suitable measures, such as the BSI standard (IT-Basic Protection) or the standard ISO / IEC 27001.

  Technical Measures

  There is a considerable range of conceivable suitable technical measures. These include pure physical protection of devices against unauthorized access, installing protective software and systems, and using data encryption and backup copies that are kept separate from the main system.

  Protection software and systems may include firewalls and packet filters, malware protection, and two-factor authentication.

  Organizational Measures

  As for many other areas of life, especially for cyber, the human factor plays a crucial role. A large number of loss profiles show that even with complex technical protection standards, human behavior is again and again a decisive factor in a successful attack on IT systems. That's why it's imperative that a company set rules for accountability and how to handle IT systems.

  Rules alone do not solve the problem -  It is necessary that employees be regularly trained and supervised.

• Insure Remaining Risks

  Understanding cyber risks and taking appropriate action is one side of the coin, and insuring the remaining risks is the other. The probability of cyber damage can be reduced by technical and organizational measures, but it can’t be eliminated. The remaining risks are covered by cyber insurance, which helps to remedy most damages that occur and is responsible for financial consequences.

  The frequency of serious cyber incidents is significantly increasing; so therefore is the importance of cyber insurance. Cyber is a very young insurance line of business, to which there is generally little experience and only a small number of specialists. However, we at COGITANDA have been dealing with cyber over many years and we are focusing on nothing else.