DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said coping with ransomware will become a top priority.
Cyber insurance coverage importance has never been clearer than it became when Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that dealing with ransomware will become a top priority.
This has only underscored the rising threat of cyberattacks and the data-scrambling malicious software.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that locks an individual, company, organization or government out of its files and networks until a payment is made. This type of attack has been rapidly and steadily rising in the United States, to the point that it has now become one of the most critical factors in the country’s security agenda. Cybercriminals have become far more effective and professional, and their resources have been increasing.
DHS Secretary Mayorkas spoke via webcast last week, explaining that ransomware has become “a particularly egregious type of malicious cyber activity.” He identified it as among the leading challenges his department would be addressing in the online environment. This only underscored the importance of cyber insurance coverage, as the threat of ransomware becomes more commonplace and difficult to avoid.
Cyber insurance coverage does not solve the issue of ransomware but can pay for ransoms or for damage.
Ransomware-using cybercriminals frequently work in regions where attitudes toward data breaches and other cybercrimes are considerably less restrictive than they are in North America. Mayorkas has stated that he would be holding accountable “governments that do not use the full extent of their authority to stop the culprits.”
The DHS Secretary also stated that the US government would be making efforts not only to disrupt the cybercriminals launching ransomware operations but would also do so for “the marketplaces that enable them.” Though Mayorkas did not say so directly, an official from the DHS said that his reference to those marketplaces included underground forums making it possible for cybercriminals to grow their cyberattack campaigns.
Currently, cyber insurance coverage is selling at a rapidly growing rate as it remains one of the top protections businesses and individuals have against ransomware. Unfortunately, the coverage often finds that it’s cheapest to pay the ransom and then help the victim through the recovery, which means 
that there remains a market for the cybercriminals who are often paid by insurance companies in this way.
