The cyberattack on AON is a warning sign to every insurance company that they are a popular target to threat actors. The valuable data held by insurance companies is an attractive target for cyber criminals, which means that the industry has to make sure that they implement solutions which prevents data from being breached.

AON were able to limit the impact of the attack to a few systems due to acting quickly and having a response method in place.  Attacks on the insurance industry can have a significant impact on both customers and employees due to the highly sensitive data they hold. Therefore, insurance organisations must ensure that they have a cybersecurity solution which can stop the possibility of their data being stolen.

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is no longer enough, with the solution needing malware to execute before it can be picked up as malicious. With some of the fastest ransomware now encrypting within 15 seconds of being executed, organisations need to look towards prevention-first solutions.

Technologies, such as deep learning – a subset of AI, are able to stop malware before it can encrypt data. Deep learning delivers a sub-20 millisecond response time to stopping a cyberattack before it can execute and take hold of an organisation’s network. With solutions like deep learning, insurance companies will be able to guarantee themselves protection against potentially devastating cyberattacks, similar to what they offer their customers.