SolarWinds could have 'chilling effect' on cyber insurance

“Ultimately cyber insurance is going to demand a level of underwriting precision that is probably higher than any other form of insurance because of the nature of risk,” Seth Rachlin, of Capgemini, said.  (Credit: Bronte Wittpenn/Bloomberg)

The overall damage dealt by the SolarWinds incident is still be determined, but the event could send shockwaves through the cyber insurance market, as it highlights the massive exposures this sector must contend with as hackers revamp their approaches.

Brian Krebs, a well-known security and cybercrimes journalist, noted the SolarWinds incident might have exposed as many as 18,000 customers after installing what they thought were routine software updates. However, hackers injected malware into the update. This gave the malicious actors, who are believed to be Russian-backed, undetected and unfettered access to high-value data.