Insurance Data & Technology Asia: Q+A with AIG's Jason Kelly

Post: Describe your job.
Kelly, pictured: I oversee financial lines products for Asia-Pacific which involves product development, sales, training of staff, client meetings and compliance with local regulations. Over the last few years AIG has made major inroads in cyber liability insurance and that product line is keeping me busy. People want to know what the product covers and if it can help mitigate cyber exposure.

Are cyber attacks increasing in Asia and why?
We read stories almost on a daily basis about a cyber attack occurring somewhere in the world, resulting in sensitive data being compromised and company executives being embarrassed. This creates a serious public relations issue for companies and often leads to a loss of trust by customers.

What is unique about cyber liability is that exposure is international, cross-border and discreet. Hackers from the US, China, Russia or based in any other country have instant and immediate access to internet and public networks. It doesn't matter if it’s midnight in New York, as it is day time somewhere else, and somebody, somewhere is doing a risk assessment of your company’s network looking for vulnerabilities.

What is the quickest and most effective way to protect businesses from cyber attacks?
The larger and more complex your organisation, the more complicated the risk management practices to protect it. Frequently, companies forget about 'inside' exposure, meaning disgruntled or unscrupulous employees.

It’s not only third party exposure that you need to be concerned about, but first party exposure for the employees unhappy in their current role. What does that mean? The best protection is not necessarily from updated software or new hardware, but from the rigorous training of staff, consistent policies, regular audits of security protocols and random unscheduled cyber testing of company networks.

What do you look forward to about conferences?
I am hard pressed to think of a more efficient way to share knowledge and experience with a large group of professionals with the same concerns.

Meet Jason Kelly at the Insurance Data & Technology Asia on 17 September in Hong Kong where he will be speaking in more detail about cyber security. To join the conference email david.mills@incisivemedia.com