Latest news with #cyberrisk
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
DynaRisk secures funding to advance cyber insurance solutions
DynaRisk, a UK-based cyber risk management company, has raised $4.7m (£3.52m) in a funding round led by YFM Equity Partners to support its product innovation and facilitate international growth. The YFM deal team included Matt Gordon-Smith, Alex Neale and David Wrench, with advisory support from Broadfield Law (legal), HMT (financial), RPL (commercial), Leckie Kershaw (technology), Fortius (go-to-market) and Catalysis (organisational). DynaRisk said it intends to use the new funding to expand its operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), North America and Asia-Pacific. The company also announced the appointment of Phil Zeidler to its board, who has experience in establishing and managing successful insurtech ventures. Gordon-Smith, YFM Equity Partners investment director, said: 'We are delighted to back Andrew and his team as they grow their international footprint and continue to lead innovation in cyber risk management.' Founded in 2016 by Andrew Martin, DynaRisk focuses on providing accessible cybersecurity solutions underpinned by advanced threat intelligence, targeting individuals, families and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). DynaRisk collaborates with reinsurers, brokers and managing general agents (MGAs) to equip individuals and businesses with essential online protection tools. Its offerings include a range of threat intelligence-driven software-as-a-service products, portfolio-level monitoring and helpline services. The company integrates its cyber risk solutions into insurance products, providing services such as vulnerability scanning, dark web monitoring, cybersecurity scoring, training and tailored remediation guidance. DynaRisk CEO Andrew Martin said: 'Brokers, MGAs and reinsurers are rushing to tap the fast-growing cyber insurance market as cyber risk is now one of the most pressing challenges for consumers and SMEs globally. 'While working with global banks, I saw how larger corporations were using expensive and complex enterprise-level software and services and wanted to put these in the hands of more people.' Currently, DynaRisk serves more than 25 insurance clients globally, protecting approximately 2.4 million consumers and 800,000 SMEs. Recent partnerships include Beazley's Turnkey Reinsurance team, Arthur J. Gallagher, REEOIC and SCOR, joining established clients such as Chubb, SPB UK & Ireland, Aspire Insurance Advisers, Ridge Canada and BOXX Insurance. PwC served as the lead financial advisor to DynaRisk. "DynaRisk secures funding to advance cyber insurance solutions" was originally created and published by Life Insurance International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Finextra
4 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
DynaRisk raises $4.7m to shape the future of cyber insurance
London-based cyber risk management firm DynaRisk has today announced a $4.7million funding round led by YFM Equity Partners (YFM) to accelerate product innovation and fuel international expansion. 0 DynaRisk was founded in 2016 by ex-banking cybersecurity specialist - and self-taught hacker - Andrew Martin, who recognised that the insurance industry needed more tools and data to help them tap the fast growing cyber insurance and cyber assistance market. The market lacked simplified and accessible cybersecurity solutions backed by advanced threat intelligence for individuals, families and SMEs. As demand for cyber insurance and digital risk mitigation intensifies, this round of funding will help DynaRisk expand its operations across EMEA, North America and Asia-Pacific, scaling its commercial and technical operations. Commenting on the investment, Andrew Martin, CEO of DynaRisk, said: 'Brokers, MGAs and (re)insurers are rushing to tap the fast growing cyber insurance market as cyber risk is now one of the most pressing challenges for consumers and SMEs globally. While working with global banks, I saw how larger corporations were using expensive and complex enterprise-level software and services and wanted to put these in the hands of more people. 'DynaRisk bridges that gap for the insurance sector, helping them protect their policyholders with industry-leading threat intelligence backed risk management and underwriting software, along with cyber incident response services. YFM quickly understood our vision and their support will be critical as we scale globally and continue to evolve our platform to meet growing demand.' Meanwhile, the business has appointed to its board serial entrepreneur Phil Zeidler, who has a proven track record in setting up and running successful InsurTech businesses. Today, DynaRisk works with (re)insurers, brokers and MGAs to help them empower individuals and businesses with the tools they need to protect themselves online, with a suite of threat intelligence driven SaaS products, portfolio-level monitoring and helpline services. It does this by embedding its cyber risk solutions into insurance offerings, with its software providing vulnerability scanning, dark web monitoring, cybersecurity scores, training and education, and tailored remediation guidance. DynaRisk's solutions allow brokers, underwriters and claims teams to grow premiums, enrich underwriting, boost policyholder engagement, and help reduce claims and loss ratios by helping to prevent cyber-attacks. Matt Gordon-Smith, Investment Director at YFM Equity Partners, added: 'DynaRisk has built impressive platforms and a client base in one of the fastest-growing segments of the insurance market. With cyber threats escalating and insurers and brokers under pressure to add more value to their policyholders, DynaRisk's embedded intelligence platforms and services are ideally positioned. We are delighted to back Andrew and his team as they grow their international footprint and continue to lead innovation in cyber risk management.' DynaRisk currently supports more than 25 insurance customers worldwide, covering approximately 2.4 million consumers and 800,000 SMEs. Recent client wins include Beazley's Turnkey Reinsurance team, Arthur J. Gallagher, REEOIC and SCOR, who join existing insurance firms including Chubb, SPB UK & Ireland, Aspire Insurance Advisers, Ridge Canada and BOXX Insurance Inc., reflecting the rising demand for scalable cyber risk solutions as embedded insurance grows globally. The YFM deal team comprised Matt Gordon-Smith, Alex Neale and David Wrench. YFM Advisers on the deal included Broadfield Law (Legal), HMT (Financial), RPL (Commercial) Leckie Kershaw (Technology), Fortius (GTM) and Catalysis (Organisational). PwC acted as lead financial advisor to Dynarisk.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CyberCube Launches Portfolio Manager Version 6: Unveiling a New Era of Specific, Actionable Cyber Cat Modeling
LONDON, July 14, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CyberCube, the leading cyber risk modeling and analytics business, has released the latest version of Portfolio Manager, its catastrophe model that empowers portfolio-level insights. CyberCube's advanced analytics are used by 75% of the top 40 US and European cyber insurance carriers. Key changes made in Portfolio Manager Version 6 (PMv6) reflect: The evolution of the cyber insurance market from a primarily U.S.-focused market to a truly global one, with modeling capabilities supporting international exposures. Explicit factoring for geographic variation in cloud service provider outages, as well as differences in the origin and spread patterns of global ransomware and wiper malware attacks. The advancement of mitigation as a key consideration in modeling cyber catastrophe risk, recognizing the need to evaluate how protective measures can reduce the impact of large-scale events – an area that has seen less focus compared to resilience against attritional losses. For this release, CyberCube conducted extensive research with internal and external cyber experts to understand what will best prepare organizations to avoid the consequences of catastrophic events, if possible, and to recover as smoothly as possible if they cannot avoid it. The v6 release makes greater use of companies' security scores and introduces several new risk modifiers that users may enter based on underwriting information aligned with NIST and CIS security control frameworks. Jon Laux, CyberCube's VP of Analytics, said: "This release marks an important step forward for our industry. We expect that over time, the new functionality introduced in this model will inform how (re)insurers understand the primary characteristics of cyber risk during underwriting and exposure management." Diversification is also a key theme of the v6 release. The cyber insurance market in 2025 remains highly concentrated in the United States, both in terms of the percentage of insureds based in America and the prevalence of American technologies and data centers that act as Single Points of Failure (SPoFs) for organizations worldwide. However, CyberCube anticipates that future market growth will come largely from new geographies across Europe and Asia, and has consequently enhanced and expanded its Enterprise Intelligence Layer (EIL). The EIL is a proprietary dataset representing millions of companies worldwide, built by collecting, curating, and fusing data from multiple public, proprietary, and partner sources. Changes to the EIL reflect the development of the cyber market internationally, with strong growth in data collection focused on countries such as Germany, France, Australia, Spain, Canada, the UK, and Japan. Building on these enhancements to the EIL, PMv6 also captures the geographic variation possible among cloud service provider outages as well as variation in the epicenters and spread patterns of global ransomware and wiper malware attacks. Taken together with CyberCube's updated Exposure Databases, released in 2024, PMv6 equips (re)insurers with actionable intelligence to grow their global cyber exposure with awareness about the potential consequences on their catastrophe exposure. Ashwin Kashyap, CyberCube's Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, said: "PMv6 represents a major step forward for cyber catastrophe modeling. We have made significant progress in addressing the drivers of diversification and risk mitigation for the benefit of the cyber insurance market. As the market leader in cyber insurance analytics, CyberCube is proud to be the industry's partner as insurers look to expand thoughtfully into new geographies." For more information about Portfolio Manager, please visit About CyberCube CyberCube is the leading provider of software-as-a-service cyber risk analytics to quantify cyber risk in financial terms. Driven by data and informed by insight, we have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to supplement our multi-disciplinary team. Our clients rely on our solutions to make informed decisions about managing and transferring cyber risks. We unpack complex cyber threats into clear, actionable strategies, translating cyber risk into financial impact on businesses, markets, and society as a whole. The CyberCube platform was established in 2015 within Symantec and now operates as a standalone company. Our models are built on an unparalleled ecosystem of data and validated by extensive model calibration, internally and externally. CyberCube is the leader in cyber risk quantification for the insurance industry, serving over 100 insurance institutions globally. The company's investors include Forgepoint Capital, HSCM Bermuda and Morgan Stanley Tactical Value. View source version on Contacts For media enquiries, please contact: CyberCube: Yvette Essen, Head of Communications & Market Engagement, yvettee@ +44 (0)7956 877 206
Bloomberg
03-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Zurich Insurance Buys Canadian Insurance Technology Firm BOXX
Zurich Insurance Group AG agreed to buy BOXX Insurance Inc, a Canadian cyber risk management firm, marking the Swiss insurer's latest push into the insurance technology sector. The acquisition will see BOXX becoming part of Zurich's platforms business, Zurich Global Ventures, the company said in a statement. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Zawya
03-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Five ways AI is creating everyday risks for African businesses
In our fast-evolving cyber risk landscape, it's easy to be captivated by the headlines—stories of cutting-edge exploits, wild new attack vectors, and AI's role in shaping malware that once seemed impossible. But while these futuristic threats grab our attention, the real challenge lies in understanding the everyday risks that businesses face and the practical steps to mitigate them. It's evident that attackers are becoming increasingly inventive. The surge of AI-driven techniques is reshaping the global threat landscape, and Africa is no exception. The continent faces a growing tide of sophisticated fraud schemes, propelled by advancements in generative AI, deepfakes, and internal vulnerabilities. It's a clear call for businesses to rethink their strategies and stay ahead in this advancing game. And the best place to start is by focusing on the real-world risks. During Trend Micro's recent World Tour in Johannesburg, we unpacked the tangible risks posed by AI advancements and shared actionable insights on how businesses can effectively counter these emerging challenges. A new wave of AI-powered phishing emerges We've all seen phishing evolve from poorly worded emails riddled with typos to messages that are polished, professional, and even translated flawlessly into multiple languages. But a more recent development is how attackers now leverage AI to scour social media posts—not just the content of posts but the rich ecosystem of interactions around them. There is a treasure trove of personalised insights that can be mined from comments and connections. Bad actors are then capitalising on AI's ability to seamlessly craft hyper-personalised messages with astonishing precision. The tools are readily available; even platforms like ChatGPT can be leveraged to generate phishing emails that feel tailored and authentic. This doesn't require advanced coding expertise—it's a straightforward process that puts powerful capabilities into the hands of malicious actors. The implications are striking. It raises the stakes for businesses as the social engineering pressure through phishing channels continues to intensify, demanding a more vigilant and proactive approach to cybersecurity. Deepfakes are becoming mainstream Synthetic media has also entered the conversation, and it's rewriting the rules of social engineering. Deepfakes, once a novelty, are now a mainstream threat. Remarkably, deepfake incidents in Africa increased sevenfold from Q2 to Q4 of 2024 due to advanced AI tools. With just a few seconds of audio, voice cloning tools can convincingly mimic an executive's voice, enabling fraudsters to issue urgent fund transfer requests that sound all too real. And it doesn't stop there. Real-time face swaps on video platforms like WhatsApp mean that even a casual 'let's jump on a quick call' could be a trap. The line between real and fake is blurring fast, and attackers are exploiting that ambiguity with alarming precision. Recent headline-grabbing incidents—like last year's Quantum AI investment scam that cost consumers billions—underscore just how high the stakes have become. AI is exposing deeper gaps in data governance One of the rising challenges businesses must contend with is the risk of data leakage, especially with tools like AI assistants entering the picture. Imagine an employee—whether inadvertently or with malicious intent—asking for sensitive information such as salary details, acquisition plans, or financial results. If the correct access restrictions are not in place, the AI might serve up restricted data that was never meant for broader access. What we're seeing here is a classic case of AI inheriting flawed permissions—folders scattered across an organisation with access settings that are far too broad. Perhaps a folder is mistakenly set to 'accessible to everyone' when, in reality, only specific employees should have clearance. AI tools will readily surface information that should remain locked down. It's crucial to understand that this issue isn't solely about AI; it's a reflection of deeper gaps in data governance and permissions management within organisations. Open-source is an avenue for malicious code Another emerging concern around AI lies in the potential for the spread of malicious code. Developers crafting AI applications often rely on open-source repositories or widely used models like Meta's LLaMA. But if these repositories contain buggy or, worse, malicious code, those vulnerabilities can creep into your applications unnoticed. It's a sobering reminder that even the tools we trust can become conduits for risk if not carefully vetted. Hallucinations can prove catastrophic Hallucinations are another critical consideration. These occur when AI models, particularly those hastily developed or inadequately vetted, generate information that simply isn't real. Take, for example, OpenAI's Whisper model, used for speech recognition and transcription in medical and business settings. When doctors paused during dictation, the software invented additional words seemingly out of thin air. In a medical context, this isn't just inconvenient—it's potentially catastrophic. It underscores an urgent need for robust quality assurance processes tailored to AI systems. So, what's the path forward? It starts with visibility—broad, deep, and continuous. Understanding where and how AI is being used across your organisation is no longer optional; it's foundational. Monitor AI interactions closely. Are the prompts or responses raising red flags? That insight isn't just diagnostic—it's an opportunity to intervene, guide, and improve. At the same time, your application security processes must evolve to reflect the new AI-driven threat landscape. And if you're training models, the integrity of your data is paramount. Govern it. Protect it. Own it. The good news is that defensive AI is outpacing offensive capabilities, thanks to significant investments in talent, tools, and innovation. Even in areas where attackers are advancing—like vulnerability discovery—defenders are using the same techniques to stay one step ahead. And with the rise of agentic AI, we're seeing a shift: more power is moving into the hands of those who protect. The future of cybersecurity isn't just about reacting faster—it's about anticipating smarter. And that future is already taking shape.
