Zurich Offers Post Cyber Attack Response Service in APAC

Zurich Insurance has launched DigitalResolve, a coordinated incident response service to help businesses in Asia Pacific (APAC) mitigate and recover from cyber attacks.

Offered through Zurich’s partner Crawford & Co., DigitalResolve helps organizations coordinate and manage resources so they can recover from damaging cyber attacks with minimum disruption, Zurich said in a statement.

DigitalResolve is designed “to immediately mitigate the risk of operational shutdown, supply chain disruption, customer and revenue losses, declines in productivity, regulatory fines, litigation claims, cyber-extortion payments and reputational damage,” Zurich added.

The service supports organizations after a cyber attack by assigning them a dedicated 24/7 incident manager with immediate response capabilities, who in turn appoints and coordinates a team of cyber experts to resolve the issue and minimize post-attack exposure. Depending on the attack, these will include PR consultants, forensic accountants, IT forensic experts, lawyers, credit monitors, and ransom negotiators.

DigitalResolve will be available to all Zurich Security and Privacy customers in Singapore first, followed by Hong Kong, Japan and China by the end of 2016, before being rolled out to other markets across the APAC region. Already offered in the U.K., DigitalResolve is fully operational.

The new service launches at a time when increasingly globalized and interconnected operations are raising the potential impact of cyber disruptions to businesses, while internet-related technologies such as mobile internet, the Internet of Things and cloud technology generate economic benefit yet increase cyber dependency, the company said.

Zurich quoted Grant Thornton’s International Business Report, which revealed that cyber crime in 2015 cost the global economy an estimated US$315 billion, $81 billion of which was lost in APAC.

Oliver Vale, head of Professional Indemnity, Zurich Global Corporate Asia, said: “It is not a question of if but when a cyber attack will happen. Today more than half of the world’s internet users are in Asia. However, despite being the fastest growing region for connectivity, the region is still inadequately prepared for cyber attacks.”

While new IT-driven technologies open up wide-ranging opportunities for organisations of all sizes, the increasing reliance on the internet introduces significant new risks too, Vale cautioned.

“In light of the increasing volume and sophistication of security breaches, it is no longer sufficient to consider cyber risk a concern for the IT department or mitigate against the possibility of experiencing cyberattack in the first place,” he said.

“Today, organizations must also plan for coordinated recovery in the event of an attack, so that when breaches happen, they can get the business back to full strength, at full speed. Furthermore, given the nature of Singapore as a regional hub, local businesses are exposed globally,” he continued.

“DigitalResolve is specifically set up to provide the same high level of resolution worldwide as it is locally, as panels are chosen not only for their track record and expertise but also their global reach and established networks.”

Zurich said it is collaborating with governments, academics and other think tanks around the world to establish global standards, encourage information sharing, build resilience and create adequate global governance on cyber security.

Source: Zurich Insurance

Topics Cyber