Last month, I had the great privilege of visiting Machu Picchu, located in Peru and on the list as one of the Seven Wonders of the world. The site stretches over an impressive 5-mile distance, featuring more than 3,000 stone steps that link its many different levels.
It was certainly one of the most amazing sites I’ve visited, and with the growth of our cyber insurance business here at Cyber Data Risk Managers, it is not unusual to find me working from spots like Machu Picchu, even if it means sharing my office with a Llama!
A Look Back at Machu Picchu and A Look Forward at Cyber Security and Cyber Insurance
What amazed me about Machu Picchu was not just the view and its beauty, I was more in awe of how this Inca stone age community was built and how it still remains standing hundreds of years later. Stones are fitted so tightly in Machu Picchu structures that they have withstood almost five hundred years of weathering.
However, Machu Picchu stone structures and platforms that have survived wars, earthquakes, and foul weather are now being threatened by sightseers. While Machu Picchu was only discovered in 1911, its visitors are an evolving problem. More visitors means more erosion. Only 2500 visitors are permitted to enter this sweeping mountainside spot each day in order to help protect its environment and keep erosion at bay.
Upon my return from Machu Picchu, while I certainly was enlightened as many are when visiting this spot, what I took away from my visit was the realization how much cyber security and cyber insurance can be related to this indestructible mountain site.
While Machu Picchu may have weathered many elements, and remains standing after hundreds of years, it is the “human factor” that could bring it tumbling down. Sound familiar? Nonetheless, cyber security may not be able to guarantee 100% security protection of your company’s systems, it is the “human factor” that can bring your systems tumbling down when threatened by those vicious sightseers, more commonly known in the cyber security industry as hackers or cyber criminals.
It has been said that the Inca engineers that built Machu Picchu spent about 50 percent, maybe 60 percent of their overall effort underground — building foundations, and site preparation to make sure that Machu Picchu would last forever. Cyber security is certainly something that companies have come to realize needs to be at the foundation of a company’s network and systems so that the livelihood of the company is not jeopardized. While cyber security can’t help a company last forever, it can certainly help minimize that risk.
Indeed, Machu Picchu had some of the world’s greatest engineers at the time build its site. Fast forward to 2017, and we certainly have some of the world’s greatest engineers that have built cyber security solutions that are designed to weather many cyber risks. Coincidentally, the Inca engineers did not have the foresight to concern themselves with “sightseers” (like me!) who would one day visit their master site. That is where cyber security and cyber insurance differs. We get and understand that the “human factor” is the biggest cyber threat today and one that even the best cyber security solution might not be able to stop or prevent. However, this is why cyber security and cyber insurance complement the other, and must be synced together to provide your company with the best overall solution. Though in order to succeed, it will require the appropriate cyber security solutions, and an experienced cyber insurance broker to help ensure your solution is the right one, and one that will weather many elements.
Machu Picchu was not planned or designed by amateurs or engineers dabbling in constructing the site. The same can be said with cyber insurance, as you certainly don’t want to work with amateurs that are dabbling in cyber insurance or just set up their website and lack the crucial experience that your company needs to help navigate the complex cyber insurance offerings that are available today. One missed stone (still reflecting on Machu Picchu) can bring your company tumbling down the mountainside due to a denied cyber insurance claim. Data breaches are stressful, we know as our clients have had them. The last thing you want is more stress, at an already very stressful time, due to a denied insurance claim that could have been avoided had you understood what you were purchasing in the first place.
We may not be of Inca origin, however, Cyber Data Risk Managers was founded in 2011 due to its foresight on how digital risk would dominate every single company today that holds data in electronic format. Indeed, not only do we have a wealth of experience in writing cyber insurance for hundreds of clients, we continue to lead the way in helping build the cyber insurance industry based upon our client experiences and client demands.
For help with your company’s cyber insurance, please complete our cyber insurance quote request form or give us a call at 855.CUT.RISK (288-7475).