Proactive Cyber Defence Saves an Insurance Company Over $270K in Potential Losses

A well-established insurance company found itself on the verge of a serious cyber incident when a phishing email, disguised as a message from a known contact, slipped into an employee's inbox. The email had malicious but contained a malicious link designed to gain access to sensitive company data including client information, financial records, and internal systems.

Without intervention, this would have led to a major ransomware attack, operational downtime, and significant reputational damage. The estimated cost of disruption and potential ransom demands sat at over $270,000. The company needed a fast, expert response to detect, isolate, and neutralize the threat.

Fortunately, GDS was already managing the company's IT environment. Upon alert from internal monitoring tools, our team immediately flagged the suspicious email and took swift action to isolate the threat.

During our investigation, we traced the phishing attempt back to another business whose email system had unknowingly been compromised. Rather than stopping at containment, GDS contacted the third-party organisation directly, informing them of the breach within their environment.

This proactive outreach helped prevent the same phishing attack from affecting other businesses, cutting off the spread at its source. It also gave them valuable time to address their own security vulnerabilities, turning a reactive moment into a broader preventative action.