Lloyd’s of London Reboots Network to Probe ‘Unusual Activity’

Insurance company Lloyd’s of London experienced unusual activity leading to the company rebooting its network. “Lloyd’s has detected unusual activity on its network, and we are investigating the issue,” a company spokesperson told the British technology news website The Register.

As per reports, the company reset its network and all its systems to curb any cyberattack. External connectivity, along with the platforms of the delegated authorities, was also turned off to secure the systems.

After detecting the suspicious activities, Lloyd’s alerted the market participants and all other parties to inform them about the incident. However, not much could be said about the issue that seems like a potential cyberattack. Therefore, the company did not mention the possibility of a data breach.

Tony Chaudhry, the underwriting director at Lloyd’s, sent a memorandum to its syndicates that assured that the company was taking every precautionary measure to safeguard its system and data should any cyber-attack happen. “Lloyd’s remains strongly supportive of the writing of cyberattack cover but also recognizes that cyber-related business continues to be an evolving risk,” the memo read.

Lloyd’s support of Ukraine

It is being speculated that because the insurance company supported sanctions against Russia for attacking Ukraine, the cyberattack was conducted. Several nations have condemned Russia for invading Ukraine, which led to several lives being lost.

Some of the sanctions have repercussions, like a ban on insuring ships carrying Russian oil. The insurance market involving the UK and European Union supported sanctions against Russia for taking punitive measures against President Vladimir Putin in the wake of the war. Several countries have also issued warnings that were consolidated and published on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) website.

The allies of Ukraine have been warned against mass cyberattacks on facilities of critical infrastructure in a post published on the website of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The post also noted that there would likely be an increase in DDoS attacks, increasing network traffic. Such traffic can have several ill effects on systems, including slowing down, service interruption, and increased vulnerability.