Good security takes an entire ecosystem of teams, even communities, to ensure that valuable data stays safe. In the words of Jay Paz, Cobalt’s Senior Director of Delivery: “Cybersecurity is an outcome of the behaviors, interactions, decisions, and actions of many different people. Everyone is all in this together.”
That’s why we’re launching a series of blog posts that highlight the work and commitment of Cobalt’s partners, who work alongside us to strengthen cybersecurity around the world.
Our January feature is dedicated to Allianz F200, who focus on defending organizations against cyber risk with a variety of cyber insurance options. We sat down with their director John Ismailoglu to learn more about their work.
Tell us more about yourself and Allianz F200.
I’m John, a Director at Allianz F200. I’ve been in insurance for about 16 years now consulting businesses on their risks and exposures to implement tailored insurance programs to protect them.
More widely, Allianz F200 is one of Germany’s leading agencies representing Allianz — the insurance and asset management company. We offer a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services. This ranges from everything like cyber, property, life and health insurance, to assistance services, to credit insurance and global business!
What’s the biggest security problem you’re aiming to solve? And how?
From the security side of things, it’s all about supporting businesses to get the right protection when they are handling sensitive data.
Cyber insurance helps in a variety of different ways. One way is if there's any sort of first-party loss where there's a cyber incident. When a company has a financial loss due to that, the insurance can help recuperate those costs.
As companies grow and new organizations are founded, the risk only increases — more and more companies handle sensitive data every single day. Allianz F200 sits right with them to implement the right coverage that protects them in case anything goes wrong.
Tell us about the value you bring to your customers. How do they describe you?
It has to be about top empathetic customer service and taking that consultative approach. We really work with our clients to understand exactly the level of risk they face, and the consequence of holding that risk. From there we can really guide them to what levels of insurance products they might want to consider to protect their business.
It all has to come down to having a real understanding of the businesses and how they work — for instance, startups work and move so differently to your Fortune 100s (or 500s) of the world and we make sure we can support that and act as a guide.
How do Allianz F200 and Cobalt click together? What do you think the security community will find most valuable about our partnership?
For me, pentesting and cyber insurance are just another piece of the security puzzle, right? Pentesting is proactive protection, and what we do at Allianz F200 is the reactive measure in case something goes wrong.
What’s on the horizon for you — any previews you can give into what lies ahead for Allianz F200, or where you think the industry as a whole is going?
Insurance is a legacy industry that has not changed much, that is, until recently. With the growth of insurtech, the industry has experienced disruptions — especially on the digital front. Insurers will put more emphasis on this whether it is through their own efforts or through collaborative partnerships like the Allianz X, CLARK and finanzen Group partnership which formed one of the largest insurtechs.
We always sneak a fun question at the end: If Allianz F200 had a mascot, what would it be?
An elephant. Specifically a mother elephant because they are very protective of their young and will do whatever it takes to rescue them from harm. This is the same mindset we have when it comes to our clients. We do whatever it takes to make sure they are protected.
Hear John discuss proactive security in our upcoming webinar, "Early & Often: The Benefits of Continuous Pentesting & Cyber Security Programs."
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