Ray Hutchins is a cyber security professional and entrepreneur who lives in Denver, CO. He is the founder of Denver Cyber Security and Data1Qbit. Data1Qbit is an IT system engineered to collect all possible data available about ALL cybersecurity companies and ALL cyber security products–and then Data1Qbit makes that data useful and available to many industries. Ray makes the case that the cyber insurance industry cannot make correct risk decisions unless they know which products clients are using to protect their networks. All products are not created equally.
What do you see as the greatest cyber risks today?
Lack of understanding and commitment by our business and government leaders. I am concerned that until our leadership takes this threat seriously and starts committing the resources necessary to protect our IT infrastructure and intellectual property assets…until this happens, then the global community of gangsters will continue to hold sway over the cyber battlefield.
What will the greatest threats be in 5 years’ time?
The internet of things (IOT). Billions more of unsecured devices to our Internet central nervous system is a mind-boggling problem. Security needs to be pre-engineered into all these devices before they are allowed to be connected to the network. That is not happening yet.
Is the insurance industry doing enough to adequately address these risks?
Absolutely not. It was clear to me at the Advisen conference that the insurance industry is just now awakening to the issue and the risks…and that’s even considering they have a dog in fight. The Data1Qbit database/system is something that will make a difference to the industry, but cyber security is a complex problem and it will require a complex, co-ordinated response from the insurance industry.
What keeps you awake at night?
As a cyber security professional, it is the knowledge that the hackers…the attackers are operating with such total impunity. Serious, organized hackers make it a point NOT to be detected. They install themselves in networks and steal at will and over long periods of time. And meanwhile, we go about our business thinking that no news is good news. Tragically, in this case it is not. As Special Agent in Charge Robert Holley said at the Advisen conference, “there are only two kinds of companies…those who have been hacked and those that don’t know they have been hacked.”
In your opinion, what is the single most important cyber risk development in the past 12 months?
The fact that the Sony and Target breaches happened. After those particular breaches, the media and others pulled their heads out of the sand (partways, anyway) and started thinking that the cyber threat might actually be real. But they still don’t really get the fact that everything we own is under attack by a billion-man army of opportunists who are able to travel at the speed of light. How many of us disconnect our computers and networks from the Internet at night… when we sleep….and they roam?
