Lloyd's of London cuts off network after dodgy activity detected Lloyd's of London has cut off its IT systems and is probing a possible cyberattack against it after detecting worrisome network behavior this week. "Lloyd's has detected unusual activity on its network and we are investigating the issue," a spokesperson told The Register on Thursday. "As a precautionary measure, we are …
"Even before detecting a possible IT intrusion, Lloyd's has been in the infosec headlines since late August after making changes to its policies that will soon prohibit its syndicates from covering losses arising from certain nation-state cyberattacks and those that happen during wars."
Not only that, but if the USSR (aka the rump Russia) has declared certain areas of the world its own (Ukraine and most of the 'stans), then there really can't be a "war" - just another putting down of an insurrection.
Sounds very much like the plan in the USofA with the (r)epuglicon party playing the part of the putinistas.
With a tiny bit of legal chicanery, Lloyd's should be able to legally weasel its way out of any reimbursements.
From March 2023, all standalone cyber insurance policies underwritten by members of the sprawling Lloyd’s of London marketplace “must exclude liability for losses arising from any state-backed cyber attack” the 300-year-old organisation has warned – telling members that cyber attack coverage “if not managed properly… has the potential to expose the market to systemic risks that syndicates could struggle to manage.”
Looks like they are getting their own attack in before the deadline they imposed.
Which implies it's not just the perpetrators who are making money out of non-state ransomware attacks. Just a fresh new stream of properly managed premium profits for Lloyds and thereby incentivising more attacks as the targets who are assured to pay up.
I can understand that it's not good optics for Lloyds being seen to be profiting directly from Russian & North Korean state actors. Making all ransomware insurance illegal may have been a better way.
According to Lloyd's 2021 annual report, it took in £39.2 billion ($45 billion) in gross written premiums and took in £2.3 billion ($2 billion) in profit before tax.
So, 5.9% gross profit? Could do better.
An interesting bind: the insured are unlikely to be able to directly influence their governments' actions but those actions may provoke greater risk of other states' sponsored attacks on the insured. The higher the profile of the insured, the greater the risk of being targetted as a symbol of the bloc.
I imagine the 'rulers' of some eastern states might enjoy the disruption of high profile western trophy targets such as major telecoms providers or manufacturers/distributors of soft drinks or fast/junk foods.
I guess our best course of action is to tighten and compartmentalise our systems to make them resistant and resilient when the inevitable attacks occur - which is what should have been happening anyway.
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