Tag Archive for: Challenges

Coverage Challenges in Ransomware Claims: Cyber Insurance Policies and Trends in Denials | Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP


A consistent pattern emerges in data breach and cyber-attack cases when companies turn to their insurers for coverage after such incidents. Whether they possess specialized cyber insurance or not, insurers often decline claims, citing various reasons such as failure to provide timely notice, failure to mitigate costs, employee misconduct or criminal activity leading to the breach, or attributing the losses to a party not covered by the policy. This holds true for both General Casualty or Liability policies (GCL) and specialized cyber liability insurance policies, covering damage to electronic assets.

On December 22, 2022 the Ohio Supreme Court in EMOI Servs., L.L.C. v. Owners Ins. Co. ruled that an Ohio medical billing company’s cyber insurance policy did not cover a ransomware claim for damages because the insured could not demonstrate that there was “physical harm or damage” to the computers which housed the data, as required by the terms of the policy. The electronic policy noted that the coverage included:

“When a limit of insurance is shown in the Declarations under ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT, MEDIA, we will pay for direct physical loss of or damage to “media” which you own, which is leased or rented to you or which is in your care, custody or control while located at the premises described in the Declarations. We will pay for your costs to research, replace or restore information on “media” which has incurred direct physical loss or damage by a Covered Cause of Loss. Direct physical loss of or damage to Covered Property must be caused by a Covered Cause of Loss.”

The insured argued that since the ransomware made the data inaccessible and unusable, the media suffered damage covered by the policy language. However, the Ohio court disagreed.

EMOI Servs., L.L.C. v. Owners Ins. Co. Case Overview

EMOI is an Ohio-based company assisting hospitals with medical billing, resulting in the handling of personal data, financial data, and Protected Health Information. In September of 2019, EMOI was the victim of a ransomware attack, where the attackers locked up files and demanded ransom. After obtaining a “test key” from the hackers to unlock a single data file,…

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5G security challenges and threats


The telecommunication sector is undergoing a transformation with the introduction of 5G technology, presenting vast potential and a myriad of opportunities. However, as technology advances, threat actors are becoming more sophisticated, posing a significant challenge for communication service providers (CSPs) in maintaining robust security measures. The Nokia Threat Intelligence Report 2023 sheds light on the trends surrounding 4G and 5G security attacks, malware incidents, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, and other telco cyber threats affecting fixed and mobile networks worldwide.

Here are some key findings of the report.

IoT bots account for 60% of attacks on mobile networks

The report revealed that 60% of attacks on telecom mobile networks are associated with Internet of Things (IoT) bots scanning for vulnerable hosts to build their botnets for executing DDoS attacks. This rapid proliferation of IoT bots has become a major concern for CSPs.

Furthermore, more than 30% of CSPs surveyed in a Nokia/GlobalData study said that they experienced eight or more security breaches in the past 12 months, highlighting the growing struggle to cope with the evolving threats.

Additionally, CSPs are grappling with fragmented security tools, making it challenging to effectively deploy security capabilities across various systems and use cases.

Malware attacks

The report found that 35% of the detected malware attacks were due to ad-click bots, crypto-miners, and banking trojans, accounting for 15%, 11%, and 9% respectively. While adware incidents experienced a decline of 25%, crypto-mining attacks remained steady, and banking trojans nearly doubled, rising from 5% in 2021 to 9% in 2023.

Despite a decrease in residential malware infection rates to 1.5%, it continued to surpass pre-pandemic levels, which stood at 1%.

Scanning for potentially vulnerable devices remained the predominant form of malware activity, accounting for 88% of attacks in fixed networks and over 90% in mobile networks. Once a vulnerable device is detected, the malware initiates a sequence of attacks, aiming to exploit the vulnerability with the goal of incorporating the target device into a botnet.

90% of complex…

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Challenges facing China’s development of AI chatbots


Since Baidu pioneered China’s homegrown development of ChatGPT-like AI chatbots with its Ernie Bot, several businesses have followed suit, including SenseTime’s SenseNova and Alibaba Cloud’s Tongyi Qianwen. Huawei also intends to release an upgraded…

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National security challenges in the decade ahead


Indian Army after recovery of a huge cache of drugs on the Line of control in Kashmir


 Manoj Naravane


If you do not read your scriptures, you will lose your culture; but if you do not pick up your weapons, you will lose your Nation.


When one thinks of National Security, the first thought that comes to mind is the Armed Forces which conjures up images of tanks, military equipment, and soldiers in their ceremonial uniforms. However, National Security is not military security alone i.e., safeguarding the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation, but has many other dimensions, including, energy security, food and water security, cyber-security, and even health security. National security also extends to transnational crimes by state and non-state actors e.g., drug-running, that affects the very fabric of our Nation.


It is necessary, therefore, to adopt a Whole-of-Nation Approach to the issue of National Security, which is the primary duty of the Government. In this, the Diplomacy-Information-Military-Economic (DIME) concept leveraging all instruments of national power to ensure comprehensive National Security, is essential. Moreover, all four facets have to be complementary to each other in pursuance of a commonly defined aim. For example, on the one hand, it has been stated in many fora that relations with China cannot be normalised unless the border imbroglio is resolved. On the other hand, trade with China continues apace, and volumes have only increased post the 2020 stand-off in Eastern Ladakh. This sends mixed signals to the country, the global community, but most importantly to China, for whom resolution of the border issue becomes inconsequential, as long as trade is flourishing.


“It is necessary, therefore, to adopt a Whole-of-Nation Approach to the issue of National Security, which is the primary duty of the Government.”


There is no getting away from the fact that India has un-settled borders, in the West with Pakistan and to the North and East with the Tibet region of China, which will always be at the forefront of our national security calculus. Pakistan has a GDP of barely US $0.34 trillion, which is about…

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