INSUREtrust

CRC Group & INSUREtrust to Form Cyber Practice Group, Enhancing Specialty Capabilities

Taylor Hughes — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 15:41:12 +0000

CRC Group & INSUREtrust to Form Cyber Practice Group, Enhancing Specialty Capabilities

April 16, 2024

CRC Group, a leading wholesale specialty insurance distributor in North America, announces the integration of INSUREtrust, formerly housed in Starwind, into its Wholesale Brokerage Division. This strategic combination bolsters CRC Group’s cyber capabilities and expertise and broadens INSUREtrust’s network. The newly formed cyber practice group reinforces CRC’s commitment to providing innovative solutions in the rapidly evolving cyber insurance landscape.

INSUREtrust, an industry leading provider of specialized cyber insurance brokerage, products, and risk management tools, brings a wealth of experience and exclusive offerings that further strengthens CRC Group’s already-formidable cyber portfolio. This inclusion empowers CRC Group brokers with enhanced resources and expanded avenues for delivering comprehensive cyber risk solutions to their clients.

According to Commercial Solutions Chief Executive Officer Mike Brennan, “The incorporation of INSUREtrust into the CRC Group family is a testament to our dedication to staying at the forefront of the industry. With INSUREtrust’s expertise in cyber insurance, we are poised to offer our clients unparalleled solutions to mitigate cyber risks effectively across our entire platform.”

INSUREtrust President and Chief Executive Officer Christiaan Durdaller will lead the newly formed Cyber Practice Group, ensuring delivery of best-in-class solutions to clients coast to coast. “INSUREtrust’s exclusive products will significantly augment CRC’s excellent capabilities to address the evolving needs of clients in the cyber insurance landscape,” says Durdaller. “This strategic integration underscores INSUREtrust’s and CRC’s capability to deliver innovative and tailored solutions to meet the dynamic challenges of the modern business environment.”

INSUREtrust’s exclusive products will complement CRC Group’s strong existing suite of offerings, further solidifying its position as a premier provider of specialty insurance solutions.

About INSUREtrust

INSUREtrust, headquartered in the Atlanta metro area, is a leading specialty insurance business for emerging risks. It is a pioneer in the Cyber Insurance Industry as a result of its development of a unique policy form designed to explicitly cover exposures associated with the internet’s emerging digital risks. For more than 26 years, INSUREtrust has continued be a leader in the insurance industry with its unique innovation and expertise focused heavily on cyber insurance and related risk management. INSUREtrust is a division of Starwind Specialty Insurance Services, LLC, a subsidiary of CRC Insurance Services, LLC.

About CRC Group

CRC Insurance Services, LLC is one of North America’s largest wholesale specialty insurance distributors, delivering the broadest rangeofinsurancesolutionsavailableinthemarketplace today. With 5,100 teammates in offices across the United States and Canada, CRC Group places more than $40B in annual premiums across property and casualty, employee benefits, life, annuities, and long-term care. Learn more at www.crcgroup.com.

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SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure Rule Change Can Increase Your Cyber Risk

Taylor Hughes — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 20:10:34 +0000

In July of this year, the SEC approved new cybersecurity disclosure rules for public companies, titled “Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure by Public Companies.” The regulations require companies that are subject to reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to disclose “material” cybersecurity incidents within four business days of determining that a “material” cybersecurity incident has occurred. Alongside specifying details about the nature, scope and timeframe of the incident, these rules also require companies and their boards of directors to articulate their overall assessment and governance of cybersecurity risks.¹

Just two weeks ago, the SEC charged SolarWinds – and alarmingly, its Chief Information Security Officer, Timothy Brown – alleging they defrauded and misled investors about its cybersecurity stature. The SEC alleged SolarWinds and Brown overstated their cybersecurity practices while downplaying known risks and exploits for several years. Allegations were also made that SolarWinds and Brown knew of various vulnerabilities but failed to address them adequately and disclose those vulnerabilities to investors.²

The SEC’s charges against SolarWinds highlight a hawkish stance that will likely be applied to the new cybersecurity disclosure rules and are a stark reminder to all companies — privately held and publicly traded — to exercise a heightened duty not just in evaluating but communicating cybersecurity risks.

INSUREtrust recently announced its launch of Cyber Pre-Check, the innovative entryway policyholders are taking to secure better cyber insurance premiums and manage cybersecurity risk. By leveraging this platform to review existing cybersecurity controls, organizations can better understand potential gaps and learn how to supplement existing controls with vulnerability scans of their network’s perimeter, peer benchmarking data, disaster scenario models, and a digital asset inventory. By leveraging INSUREtrust’s digital risk quantification tools in Cyber Pre-Check, organizations can become more equipped to mitigate risks and communicate cybersecurity risk to its employees, investors, and insurers.

Contributors

Will Tschetter is an Assistant Vice President with INSUREtrust.
Sarah Rugnetta, Partner at Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP serves as a vice chair of the Constangy Cyber Team and practices in New York.

End Notes

SEC Adopts New Cybersecurity Disclosure Rules, Forbes, July 27, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/betsyatkins/2023/07/27/sec-adopts-new-cybersecurity-disclosure-rules/
US SEC charges SolarWinds and its CISO for alleged cybersecurity misstatements and controls failures, Norton Rose Fulbright Data Protection Report, 2023. https://www.dataprotectionreport.com/2023/11/us-sec-charges-solarwinds-and-its-ciso-for-alleged-cybersecurity-misstatements-and-controls-failures/

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Ransomware’s Resurgence

Taylor Hughes — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 20:32:50 +0000

Ransomware’s Resurgence

Insurance Business America | October 9, 2023

RANSOMWARE HAS returned to the cyber stage in terms of both frequency and severity – but AI might play a hand in better protecting against attacks in the future. After a lull following the early months of the war in Ukraine, ransomware is again emerging as the top cyber threat – but INSUREtrust is feeling confident.

Insurance Business America highlights INSUREtrust on our pre-emptive AI tools to help clients navigate the risk.

Read Full Article

About INSUREtrust

INSUREtrust, headquartered in the Atlanta metro area, is a leading specialty insurance brokerage for emerging risks. The business is a pioneer in the Cyber Insurance Industry as a result of its development

of a unique policy form designed to explicitly cover exposures associated with the internet’s emerging digital risks. For more than 26 years, INSUREtrust has continued to be a leader in the insurance industry with its unique innovation and expertise focused heavily on cyber insurance and related risk management. INSUREtrust is a subsidiary of Starwind Specialty Insurance, a subsidiary of CRC Group.

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INSUREtrust Enhances Client Experience & Preparedness with Launch of Cyber Pre-Check

Taylor Hughes — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 14:28:48 +0000

INSUREtrust Enhances Client Experience & Preparedness with Launch of Cyber Pre-Check

June 21, 2023

INSUREtrust, a cyber insurance and risk management specialty broker within Starwind Specialty, is pleased to announce the launch of Cyber Pre-Check, a new innovative product that simplifies application and vulnerability scanning as well as IT and insurance budget processes for policyholders. INSUREtrust combines its own data and analytics with artificial intelligence powered by SecondSight.ai to bring this industry-leading solution to its retail agency partners.

Cyber Pre-Check completes a carrier-agnostic scan of a client’s environment prior to going to market, providing valuable data that supports thorough submissions. It also creates a strategically prioritized road map for clients’ IT security spend and assists with financial planning around increased limits, helping clients become a best-in-class risk in the eyes of the insurance marketplace.

A more comprehensive solution for current market needs, Cyber Pre-Check utilizes a series of third-party risk modeling to confirm limit adequacy by comparing the percentage of losses insured by a client’s current limit against their peer group. Cyber Pre-Check’s digital asset inventory enables clients willing to share inventory findings to achieve preferential treatment from top cyber markets. Once completed, the repository saves the client’s application, ensuring that at renewal, the client only has to address changes that occurred during the policy period rather than completing an entirely new ransomware application every year.

“Through the use of Cyber Pre-Check, INSUREtrust’s network of brokers and partners can experience a new level of confidence, a competitive advantage in the market, and differentiated offerings that enable the delivery of a better client experience,” said Christiaan Durdaller, president and CEO of INSUREtrust.

With Cyber Pre-Check, cyber insurance brokers and their clients can access a suite of unique online tools designed to help businesses understand digital risk. This ground-breaking product leverages digital risk quantification tools and enables clients to deploy telematics to help them stay aware of constantly evolving risk conditions in real-time.

For more information about Cyber Pre-Check, email CSP@insuretrust.com

About INSUREtrust

About SecondSight

SecondSight is re-imagining how digital risk is discovered, quantified, hedged, and insured with the industry’s first AI-driven platform for digital risk management and cyber underwriting that enables unprecedented, “always-on” views into the true digital risk that lives in a business. Helmed by a seasoned leadership team with deep experience in data science, insurance and asset management backgrounds from Allstate, Bridgewater Associates, Cloudera and Informatica, SecondSight has developed the insurance industry’s first AI-driven platform for “inside out” underwriting. SecondSight connects the entire digital risk ecosystem — creating shared understanding around True Digital Risk and a common ground for better collaboration between businesses, carriers, brokers, and the entire digital risk ecosystem.

About CRC Group

CRC Insurance Services LLC is North America’s largest wholesale specialty insurance distributor, delivering the broadest range of insurance solutions available in the marketplace today. With 5,100 teammates in offices across the United States and Canada, CRC places more than $35.5B in annual premium across property and casualty, employee benefits, life, annuities, and long-term care. Learn more at www.crcgroup.com.

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INSUREtrust Announces Launch of Private Equity Division

Taylor Hughes — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 18:47:10 +0000

INSUREtrust Announces Launch of Private Equity Division

June 12, 2023

INSUREtrust, a cyber insurance and risk management specialty broker within Starwind Specialty, today announced the launch of its Private Equity Division. This newly created business unit will be led by Executive Vice President, Florence Levy, who joined INSUREtrust in March 2023.

In an effort to address the challenges associated with quantifying digital, technology, and cyber risks, INSUREtrust has developed a series of tools, offered through the Private Equity Division, to support clients during the diligence phase of frequent merger and acquisition activity. The new division will provide a range of services, including due diligence, risk management, and insurance solutions for private equity transactions.

Building upon INSUREtrust’s 26 years’ worth of proprietary data and analytics, this division will also leverage third party vulnerability scanning, artificial intelligence digital asset quantification tools, and extensive expertise in the cyber insurance space to provide tailored solutions that address the unique risks faced by private equity firms. These offerings will play a key role in helping clients navigate the complex landscape of risk management and insurance for private equity transactions.

“We are thrilled to launch our Private Equity Division, which will bring differentiating tools to the marketplace,” said Christiaan Durdaller, CEO of INSUREtrust. “Through years of industry experience, we have identified a need in the marketplace for more forward-thinking diligence around cyber and digital risk within private equity. Gathering information can be challenging during transactions. Bringing relevant data to the table will allow us to support more comprehensive outcomes for our clients than have otherwise existed to date.”

INSUREtrust’s Private Equity Division will serve clients across all industry classes, including, but not limited to technology, healthcare, and finance, and will contemplate the needs of both portfolio companies and fund managers throughout the process.

“At INSUREtrust, we are committed to providing our clients with bespoke solutions and exceptional service,” added Durdaller. “Our new Private Equity Division is a testament to that commitment, and we believe it will be a game-changer for the industry.”

To learn more about INSUREtrust, visit https://insuretrust.com/

To learn more about the Private Equity Division, email PrivateEquity@insuretrust.com

About INSUREtrust

of a unique policy form designed to explicitly cover exposures associated with the internet’s emerging digital risks. For more than 26 years, INSUREtrust has continued be a leader in the insurance industry with its unique innovation and expertise focused heavily on cyber insurance and related risk management. INSUREtrust is a subsidiary of Starwind Specialty Insurance, a subsidiary of CRC Group.

About CRC Group

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Florence Levy Joins INSUREtrust as Executive Vice President

Taylor Hughes — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 16:22:10 +0000

Florence Levy Joins INSUREtrust as Executive Vice President

March 23, 2023

INSUREtrust, a cyber insurance and risk management specialty broker within Starwind Specialty, announced the addition of Florence Levy as Executive Vice President. Levy brings a Fortune 500 client focus and experience in the complex and dynamic risk environment of Cyber and Commercial E&O insurance to the EVP role.

Prior to joining INSUREtrust, Levy was a Director of the Cyber Incident Management Group with another global broker where she helped clients address their most pressing cyber needs across the full lifecycle of a cyber incident, from preparation through response and recovery. She also previously served in senior cyber risk roles at three other global brokerages. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law.

A well-known leader in the cyber insurance industry, Levy was named a 2015 Woman to Watch by Business Insurance and a 2020 Cyber Power Broker by Risk & Insurance. She strives to develop a deep understanding of each client’s needs, ultimately enabling better cyber resilience, strategic risk identification and management, and customized insurance program design.

At INSUREtrust, Levy will expand the company’s enterprise and Fortune 500 cyber client focus while also overseeing the continued development of INSUREtrust’s Cyber Secure Platform (CSP) as well as Cyber Risk University, INSUREtrust’s cyber risk educational platform. Her experience and insight into cyber risk will help INSUREtrust build its distribution channels and expand its cyber risk capabilities. She will work out of Denver, Colorado.

“When you get the opportunity to hire someone you can learn from, you take it,” said Christiaan Durdaller, CEO of INSUREtrust. “Florence’s expertise and enterprise client focus over the past 23+ years will help us take our Cyber Secure Platform to new heights. Florence couldn’t be a better fit, and I am excited to have her alongside the rest of our leadership team as we position INSUREtrust to continue differentiating our clients for years to come.”

“I am thrilled to join the leadership team of a truly innovative organization and help drive their continued success. I look forward to building on the deep foundation and strong brand that INSUREtrust has established within the cyber insurance community,” said Levy. “INSUREtrust is an organization that puts people first, and that kind of culture has been the lifeblood of my career. I’m excited to grow and thrive as part of the INSUREtrust team.”

About INSUREtrust

INSUREtrust, headquartered in the Atlanta metro area, is the insurance industry’s leading specialty insurance brokerage for emerging risks. In April 1997, INSUREtrust pioneered the Cyber Insurance Industry by manuscripting a unique policy form designed to explicitly cover exposures associated with the internet’s emerging digital risks. This would later be the foundation of the Cyber Insurance Industry. For more than 25 years, INSUREtrust has continued to lead the insurance industry with its unique innovation and expertise focused heavily on cyber insurance and related risk management. INSUREtrust is a subsidiary of Starwind Specialty, a division of CRC Group.

About CRC Group

CRC Group is North America’s largest wholesale specialty insurance distributor, delivering the broadest range of insurance solutions available in the marketplace today. With 5,100 teammates in offices across the United States and Canada, CRC places more than $35.5B in annual premium across property and casualty, employee benefits, life, annuities, and long-term care. Learn more at www.crcgroup.com.

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Transparency is Key to Cyber Success

Taylor Hughes — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 20:10:31 +0000

Always looking five years ahead and maintaining an education focus has been key to INSUREtrust’s continued success in the cyber market, says president and CEO Christiaan Durdaller.

In Partnership with

Insurance Business America – November 2022

Christiaan Durdaller, president and CEO of INSUREtrust, has been in the cyber market for 10 years, but in his view, the most recent years have heralded the greatest change.

“There’s been a big evolution every two to three years, but the biggest of the last 10 years have been the last two,” Durdaller told Insurance Business.

Broker understanding of cyber, which may historically have been a bit of an “afterthought or a very small part of a package,” has undergone a fundamental shift. For INSUREtrust, keeping broker partners and policyholders on the pulse of market developments has been key to success.

With the hardening of the market over the last 36 months, the understanding of the product, the need and the desire to place the cover, has grown beyond the point where it ever was before,” said Durdaller. ” I would say the understanding of the product and the ability to place it are a lot greater than they were even just a few years ago.”

The global cyber market, worth $7.49 billion in 2021, is expected to hit $28.45 billion by 2028, according to analysis by Vantage Market Research.

Continue Reading Full Article

SOURCES: Insurance Business America

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Insure Your Future: The Ransomware Response Playbook

Taylor Hughes — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 17:24:18 +0000

Take a look at the five steps integrators and their clients should take in response to a breach as part of an insurance claim.

Written by INSUREtrust’s Hunter Maskill
Security Business Magazine – October 2021 Issue

“Everywhere you look today, ransomware is at the top of the news cycle. Earlier this year, major cities on the Eastern seaboard ran out of gas when a ransomware attack took Colonial Pipeline offline. JBS Foods, Quanta Computer and CNA Financial are just a few other examples of attacks that have had severe financial consequences.

While these attacks grab headlines, 37% of attacks are perpetrated on companies with less than 100 employees and 39% on companies with 101-1,000 employees, according to research by ransomware mitigation provider Coveware. That means every company needs to be prepared to deal with ransomware – including integrators. This means understanding the elements and timeline of a claim.”

SOURCES: SIW – Security InfoWatch | Security Business Magazine

Read Full Security Business Magazine Article

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INSUREtrust: Cyber Insurance & Risk Management Leader

Taylor Hughes — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 19:48:54 +0000

“Enter INSUREtrust—the insurance industry’s leading specialty insurance brokerage for emerging risks. For more than two decades, the company has been leading the cyber insurance industry with its innovation and expertise in risk management.” – Enterprise Security

SOURCES: Enterprise Security | Top 10 Risk Management Solution Companies 2021

Read Enterprise Security's Full Article

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How Supply Chain Attacks Affect Businesses, Large and Small

Taylor Hughes — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 17:03:54 +0000

Cyber-security industry sources estimate that 2021 will see four times as many supply chain attacks as in 2020. (helpnetsecurity.com/2021/08/04/supply-chain-attacks-multiply/)

These attacks can adversely impact firms and organizations, not only in terms of direct financial loss but also in severe disruption to their systems and operations, as well as long-term damage to their reputations.

Therefore, businesses must ensure that their cyber-security is as watertight as possible, including protecting against attacks on the firms involved in their supply chain, all of which are vital for successful and profitable operations.

How Bad Actors Are Attacking Supply Chains

The term “supply chain attack” covers a wide range of criminal activities.

The physical theft of finished goods or raw materials, or the disruption of transport networks, for example, may badly disrupt the operations and profitability of manufacturers and retailers further down the chain.

Today, however, electronic cyber-attacks are far more common and far more lucrative, and these are mainly driving the rapid increase in supply chain attacks.

The IT sector is an obvious target for cyber-criminals, but any industry with a complex supply network may also provide an opportunity for illicit profits. So the bad actors are also increasingly focusing on the oil and energy industries, pharmaceuticals, and large retailers, to name but a few.

Malicious Attacks
There have been numerous high-profile attacks, but it’s worth noting that the vast majority of all supply chain attacks were against smaller firms.

Typically, cyber-criminals will use computer worms, Trojans, ransomware, and other malware to steal customer data or disable suppliers’ key operating systems pending a ransom payment.

Mitigating Risks
The direct financial and reputational consequences for all firms in the supply chain can be enormous. And it’s therefore essential that all should take steps to mitigate their risk. The United States Counter-Intelligence and Security Center (NCSC) recommends the following steps:

More generally, it is wise to keep supply chains as small as possible, focus on staff training, and ensure that all software is kept up to date and patched as necessary.

Why Supply Chain Attacks Are Set to Increase

All of these measures are essential precautions, but they may not be enough. The growth in remote working, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the advent of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT), and a shortage of cybersecurity expertise (varonis.com/blog/cybersecurity-statistics/), all mean that the current rapid rise in the incidence of supply chain attacks is likely to continue or even intensify.

The Importance of Cyber Insurance

This is why a well-designed cyber-insurance program, sitting alongside and in support of the necessary mitigation measures, is a vital precaution.

Such a program will not only provide direct compensation for any ransomware losses, but it can also cover losses generated by third-party providers, loss of earnings due to business interruption, and many additional expenses incurred as a result of an attack.

INSUREtrust has been a pioneer in cyber insurance since 1997 and has developed ground-breaking policies to protect businesses against crime and cyber liability. We have also developed a comprehensive risk management platform of services to assist our insured’s in remaining or becoming insurable in today’s hardening cyber insurance landscape. Learn more about protecting your clients assets at insuretrust.com.

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