Media Coverage
Source: Bloomberg TV
Media Coverage
09.03.14
In light of this week’s iCloud nude photo breach, Bloomberg TV’s “Market Makers” invited Public Policy partner Brian Finch to speak about the ever-increasing risk of cyberattacks and what organizations can do to defend themselves.
Finch told hosts Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle one of the biggest problems is that cyber defense remains a step behind cybercriminals, largely due to how inexpensive it is for attackers to accomplish a breach.
“I can take down a significant website [for $2 an hour],” Finch said. “What a lot of people don’t understand is that there’s this whole dark Internet out there with a cyberarms market. If you’ve got a PayPal account, if you’ve got a credit card account, you can buy pretty much anything at this point.”
Finch also says that because hackers are technologically sophisticated and typically don’t have reason to fear prosecution or other repercussions, cyberattacks will remain inevitable. Because it is impossible to eliminate all risk, businesses must do thorough threat analyses and allocate resources accordingly so they can detect breaches more quickly.
Many of the companies that fall victim to cyberattacks are in the retail and finance categories and may not have the technical knowledge to be fully prepared for a breach. Finch says that’s why it’s so important for businesses to use specific language in contracts with third-party security vendors so they know where the responsibility falls when a breach occurs. And he adds that it’s not a good idea to rely only on a cyber insurance policy—a reality that makes preparation that much more important.
“The global capacity for cyber insurance isn’t really that big. There’s about $4 billion or so total in insurance available worldwide for cyber-related losses. That’s not a lot of money,” he said. “Lots of insurance companies will sell you a cyber policy, but it’s the Wild West right now, and there are lots of exclusions, so you can’t rely only on insurance in these circumstances.”