Shielding Small Business: The Role of Insurance in Cyber Defense Enhancement

Cybersecurity breaches are increasingly common among small and medium businesses (SMBs), making them ideal targets for cybercriminals. Due to limited budgets, lack of expertise, and the misconception of being “too small to be targeted,” many SMBs operate with minimal cybersecurity defenses. Unfortunately, this vulnerability is exactly what cyber attackers rely on, exploiting weak defenses through relentless attacks and sophisticated phishing campaigns. In India alone, ransomware attacks on websites surged by 261% this year, with insurance companies often left covering the damage.

This raises an important question: How are organizations that specialize in risk management being blindsided by cyber threats? The answer lies in inadequate security practices. Many businesses lack critical defenses such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), phishing-resistant employee training, reliable backups, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) systems. Additionally, the rapid shift of SMBs to cloud platforms introduces complex configurations that exceed the technical capacity of many small businesses.

Insurance Companies and Cyber Risk Management

Recognizing the growing risks, insurers are tightening their standards for cyber insurance policies. Companies now need to meet stricter requirements, such as multi-step authentication (e.g., verification codes via email or phone), routine security scans, and offline data backups, to qualify for coverage.

However, insurers face challenges in evaluating cyber risk. Without access to comprehensive insights from businesses' security systems, insurance companies struggle to assess the true level of exposure. This reactive, “outside-looking-in” approach slows incident response efforts, as forensic teams must first reconstruct pre-breach system conditions. At the same time, businesses without a solid cybersecurity framework increase uncertainty for insurers, forcing them to reconsider how they assess and manage cyber risk.

The integration of cybersecurity and insurance efforts creates a win-win-win scenario for all stakeholders. Insurance companies benefit from fewer claims and improved financial performance, SMBs enjoy better protection and more favorable policy terms, and end-users gain enhanced data security.

By fostering partnerships between insurers and cybersecurity providers, the industry can shift from reactive risk management to proactive prevention. This collaborative approach will not only help mitigate the growing ransomware threat but also create a more resilient digital environment for businesses and consumers alike.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/role-of-insurance-in-cyber-defense-enhancement/

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President and CEO of Axiado, Gopi Sirineni – AI-Tech Interview

As President and CEO at Axiado, please share your background in AI-enabled hardware security.

As the President and CEO of Axiado, my journey in AI-enabled hardware security has been both challenging and exhilarating. Over the past four years, I’ve leveraged my extensive experience from IDT, Marvell and Qualcomm to drive innovation in this field. My background in the wired and wireless networking industry has been crucial in understanding and advancing these technologies.

I’m often referred to as a ‘thrill-seeking CEO,’ a title that reflects my love for extreme sports like skydiving and bungee jumping, as well as other active sports like basketball and cricket. These activities are more than hobbies for me; they symbolize my approach to business—taking calculated risks, embracing challenges, pushing my limits and constantly striving for excellence.

One of the most exciting technology developments I’ve witnessed in my career is the advent of generative AI. I believe it’s the most significant innovation since the smartphone, with the potential to revolutionize various sectors.

What inspired you to lead Axiado in addressing security challenges in cloud data centres and 5G networks?

In this rapidly evolving threat landscape, Axiado saw an opportunity to provide a new approach to cybersecurity and embarked on a mission to conceive a solution that would fortify existing security frameworks. This solution is designed to be reliable, self-learning, self-defending, AI-driven, and fundamentally anchored within hardware. This ambitious vision ultimately gave birth to the concept of trusted compute/control units (TCUs), a meticulously crafted solution designed from inception to deliver comprehensive security for data center control and management ports.

Can you provide an overview of AI-enabled hardware security against ransomware, supply chain, side-channel attacks, and other threats in cloud data centres and 5G networks?

According to IBM Security’s most recent annual Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a data breach reached a record high of $4.45 million in 2023. The report concluded that AI technology had the greatest impact on accelerating the speed of breach identification and containment. In fact, organizations that fully deployed AI cybersecurity approaches typically experienced 108-day shorter data breach lifecycles and significantly lower incident costs (on average, nearly $1.8 million lower) compared to organizations without AI these technologies.

The ability of a hardware-anchored, AI-driven security platform to continuously monitor and perform run-time attestation of cloud containers, platform operating systems, and firmware creates efficiencies that help reduce time spent investigating potential threats. A hardware solution that integrates AI into a chip can analyze behaviors and CPU usage. This enables it to immediately investigate anomalies in user activity. With this approach, networks can no longer be infiltrated because of software vulnerabilities or porous firmware. AI technology enables heterogeneous platforms that include root-of-trust (RoT) and baseboard management controllers (BMCs) to offer hierarchy and security manageability. By deterring cybercrime at the hardware level, the industry can finally address the long-standing shortfalls of online security.

To Know More, Read Full Interview @ https://ai-techpark.com/ai-tech-interview-with-gopi-sirineni/ 

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Safeguarding ASEAN’s Digital Future: Proactive Cloud Incident Response Strategies

The acceleration in the adoption of cloud technology has revolutionised the business landscape, and in doing so, significantly altered the cybersecurity ecosystem. The vast potential of cloud technology, such as its scalability, adaptability, and cost-effectiveness, has not gone unnoticed by nefarious entities seeking opportunities for exploitation. As businesses across ASEAN continue their transition to the cloud, they are increasingly confronted with escalating incidents of data breaches, ransomware attacks, and insider threats.

Therefore, it’s vital for organisations to devise and implement a robust cloud-specific incident response plan. Such a plan can help minimise the impact of security incidents, accelerate recovery time, and ensure optimal data protection in this rapidly evolving digital space.

Cloud Incident Response (IR) today needs to grapple with a radically different set of challenges, including data volume, accessibility, and the speed at which threats can multiply within cloud architectures. The interplay of various components, such as virtualization, storage, workloads, and cloud management software, intensifies the complexity of securing cloud environments.

That being said, Cloud IR cannot be done in isolation of the company’s overall incident response activities and business continuity plans. When possible, cloud security tools should use the same SOC, SOAR, and communication tools currently being used to secure other company elements. Using the same infrastructure ensures that suspicious and threatening cloud activities receive an immediate and appropriate response.

Creating an effective response plan involves understanding and managing the unique cloud platforms, being fully aware of data storage and access, and adeptly handling the dynamic nature of the cloud. Specifically:

Managing the Cloud Platform: The administrative console, the control centre of each cloud platform, facilitates the creation of new identities, service deployment, updates, and configurations impacting all cloud-hosted assets. This becomes an attractive target for threat actors, considering it offers direct access to the cloud infrastructure and user identities.

Understanding Data in the Cloud: The cloud hosts data, apps, and components on external servers, making it crucial to maintain correct configurations and timely updates. This is vital not just to prevent external threats, but also to manage internal vulnerabilities, such as misconfigurations, given the inherent complexity and size of cloud networks.

In conclusion, as businesses in the ASEAN region increasingly embrace cloud technologies, the need for a well-defined cloud IR plan has never been more crucial. By efficiently identifying signs of cloud-based threats, mitigating breaches, and limiting or eliminating damage, organisations can secure their cloud infrastructures, enhance their response processes, and reduce time to resolution.

To Know More, Read Full Article @ https://ai-techpark.com/strengthening-your-cybersecurity/ 

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