‘Expect the attacks to continue to evolve’

By Chad Hemenway on May 9, 2014
CEO and co-founder, ThreatGRID

CEO and co-founder, ThreatGRID

Advisen: What do you see as the greatest cyber risks today?

Dov Yoran: Among the many, here are three risks that are especially concerning:

– An organization’s ability to detect and react in a timely manner to modern-day attack techniques

– Lack of visibility to real problems and advanced threats inside the network as opposed to the perimeter

– Low quality threat data which makes it very difficult for organizations to generate accurate, high-fidelity threat intelligence.

Advisen: What will the greatest threats be in 5 years’ time?

Dov Yoran: We can expect the attacks to continue to evolve but the battlefield would be extending far beyond traditional networks to become bigger and more complex as a result of greater adoption and automation of new technologies such as the cloud, mobile devices and applications – and even the Internet of Things.

Advisen: Is the insurance industry doing enough to adequately address these risks?

Dov Yoran: Currently they are not. In some way, shape or form, cyber insurance has been a purchasable policy for over 15 years. Insurers and actuaries are the ones that can really quantify risk and the cost of breach from a mathematical standpoint. But that has not yet been defined in an appropriate way. Since the insurance companies are in the business of managing risk, they need to push further to become real experts in these cyber-threats and the security controls that are required to mitigate these risks and help avoid losses.

Advisen: What keeps you awake at night?

Dov Yoran: The recently released Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that attackers are continuously advancing their techniques and becoming increasingly sophisticated while the defenders are having a hard time not just in keeping up but are falling further behind and how can we as a security community should do more to close this gap and get ahead of the bad guys.

Advisen: In your opinion, what is the single most important cyber risk development in the past 12 months?

Mandiant’s APT report demonstrated that IP theft and interruptions in the ability to deliver business services is a real and organizations are starting to realize that this is no longer a Hollywood movie but a reality in today’s and tomorrow’s world.

ThreatGRID has developed a ground-breaking threat intelligence content platform. This solution combines proprietary malware analysis and near real-time actionable threat intelligence to provide insight into global malicious activity for large and sophisticated customers.

Dov can be reached at [email protected].

Chad Hemenway is Managing Editor of Advisen News. He has more than 15 years of journalist experience at a variety of online, daily, and weekly publications. He has covered P&C insurance news since 2007, and he has experience writing about all P&C lines as well as regulation and litigation. Chad won a Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Single Article in 2014 for his coverage of the insurance implications of traumatic brain injuries and Best News Coverage in 2013 for coverage of Superstorm Sandy. Contact Chad at 212.897.4824 or [email protected].