Webcast: Cyber Crime & Security: Your Questions, Answered
In the latest episode of Fortunato & Friends, Exelon Chief Economist Ed Fortunato interviews Dr. Ann Irvine, the Chief Data Scientist at Resilience – a middle market cyber insurance company that bridges the gap between cyber security and cyber insurance.
During the webcast, Ed and Dr. Irvine discussed types of cyber crime, cyber insurance, potential impacts to the energy market and some tips for companies to ensure their data is protected against attacks. Additionally, Constellation’s Commodities Management Group member, Keith Poli, moderated the webcast and offered his insights.
7:58 | Types of Cyber Crimes
Known as data breaches in the 1990s, cybercrimes were often carried out by amateurs sitting in basements who hacked into systems to get confidential or personal information and then sold that information for a profit.
Much of that information can be found on the internet now, so hackers have moved on to larger targets like cities and large companies. In a ransomware attack, cyber criminals get into a company’s encrypted system, lock it up and ask for money to give the company its files and systems back. They control the company’s systems until the ransom is paid.
Modern cyber criminals can be difficult to detect because they are often very sophisticated and have websites, branding, marketing, and PR. They often honor their promises once the ransom is paid and return IT control back to the company or government that they hacked as they have their own reputation to protect.
10:30 | Baltimore Ransomware Attack
A relevant example of ransomware attacks shared by Dr. Irvine was the attack on the City of Baltimore in May 2019. Cyber attackers locked up the city’s infrastructure including computer systems in departments like the police station, parks and recreation and many others. They wanted $100,000 ransom and the city refused to pay it, preferring to use backup data to restore information. However, it took them months to restore their systems and cost them significantly more than the ransom requested.
12:10 | Getting Cyber Insurance Coverage
It’s impossible to fully protect a company from cyber-attacks, but there are many preventative measures a company can put in place to reduce the damage.
Basic Steps to address cybersecurity:
- Contact your insurance broker
- Data backups
- Employee training
- Multi-authentication process
- Network security
- Have a written process on paper that’s easily available
- Have a plan!
30:00 | Energy Sector Attacks
Historically, the energy sector didn’t consider the possibility of cyber-attacks since most attacks were targeted at personal information, financial and health records. However, energy is considered a critical piece of the country’s infrastructure and cyber security measures will need to be put in place.
Listen to the full webcast to hear expert insights by visiting our Fortunato & Friends Webcast resources page.
If you find the insights shared in the webcast valuable, be sure to sign up for our next Fortunato & Friends webcast, featuring Eswar Prasad, Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy and Professor of Economics at Cornell University on the topic of: The Future of Money. Register today for our next Fortunato & Friends webcast.