Travelers Cyber
Prepare, Prevent, Mitigate, Restore

Travelers Institute presents the “Cyber: Prepare, Prevent, Mitigate, Restore” initiative, which aims to educate organizations about cybersecurity threats and best practices. This educational program is designed to empower businesses of all sizes to tackle evolving cyber threats through a series of free cybersecurity symposia.

Threat Landscape: The initiative addresses common cyber threats and vulnerabilities, including:

• Ransomware
• Social engineering
• Hacktivists
• Denial of service attacks
• Threats from employees and vendors

National Symposium Series: The Travelers Institute hosts free cybersecurity symposia for leaders of small and mid-sized businesses and organizations through public-private partnerships.

Expert Insights

The document features quotes from industry experts highlighting various aspects of cybersecurity:

1. Threat Landscape: Tim Francis from Travelers notes increased sophisticated social engineering fraud.

2. Preparation: Bill Detwiler of TechRepublic emphasizes the importance of securing all devices connected to a network, particularly with the rise of the Internet of Things.

3. Prevention: Jason Ritchie from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas recommends implementing multifactor authentication for online banking security.

4. Mitigation: Sian Schafle of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP stresses the importance of having a breach coach to navigate complex breach situations.

5. Restoration: Brett Leatherman from the FBI highlights the value of early engagement with law enforcement during cybersecurity incidents.

About the Travelers Institute

Travelers established the Travelers Institute to participate in public policy dialogue on matters relevant to the property and casualty insurance sector and the broader financial industry. The institute leverages industry expertise from Travelers’ senior management and risk professionals to provide information and recommendations to policymakers and regulators.

The initiative underscores the critical role of education in cybersecurity mitigation, as emphasized by Alan Schnitzer, Chairman and CEO of Travelers. It aims to raise awareness about evolving cybersecurity risks and provide businesses with the knowledge to protect themselves in an increasingly connected digital landscape.

Travelers Cyber
Cybersecurity Guide

Travelers Cybersecurity Guide is a comprehensive cybersecurity guide produced by the Travelers Institute, aimed at empowering organizations to tackle evolving cyber threats. The guide is structured around four key phases: Prepare, Prevent, Mitigate, and Restore.

In the Prepare phase, the guide emphasizes the importance of knowing your data, systems, and network. It recommends focusing cybersecurity efforts on critical assets, validating backup strategies, and planning for incident response. The guide stresses the need for organizations to maintain inventories of their systems, software, and network infrastructure.

The Prevent phase focuses on strengthening access controls, promptly patching known vulnerabilities, educating employees about cyber risks, and adopting security-conscious policies and procedures. The guide highlights the least privilege principle and vendor management’s importance in cybersecurity.

For the Mitigate phase, the guide emphasizes early detection of incidents, executing the response plan, getting help when needed, and documenting the response effort. It stresses the importance of having a well-designed incident response plan and the potential need for external resources such as breach coaches or forensics experts.

The Restore phase covers remediating vulnerabilities, restoring lost or damaged systems and data, replacing compromised controls, continuing monitoring, communicating effectively about the incident, and implementing lessons learned. The guide emphasizes the importance of post-incident review to improve future cybersecurity efforts.

Travelers Institute provides practical advice and best practices for organizations of all sizes. It emphasizes that cyber incidents are inevitable but need not be catastrophic if properly managed. The guide discusses legal and regulatory considerations, such as data breach notification requirements.

Travelers encourage continuous improvement in cybersecurity practices and offer additional resources for organizations seeking to enhance their cyber defenses. Overall, this guide serves as a comprehensive roadmap for organizations looking to improve their cybersecurity posture in an increasingly complex threat landscape.