Travelers joins federal push for enhanced cybersecurity framework

HBJ File Photo The Travelers Cos. office in Hartford.

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By Zachary Vasile

The CEO of Travelers Cos. joined a huddle of corporate leaders at the White House on Wednesday to discuss cybersecurity issues with President Joe Biden and announced the insurance giant would commit to a new federal initiative aimed at hardening the public and private sectors’ cyber defenses.

Alan Schnitzer, appearing alongside tech and finance sector grandees such as Apple’s Tim Cook and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, took part in discussions centering on advanced cybersecurity tools, vulnerabilities of technology supply chains and workforce development.

Travelers, which has its largest office in Hartford, provides cyber liability insurance.

The roundtable event came in the wake of several crippling, high-profile ransomware attacks aimed at companies including Colonial Pipeline, a pipeline system for refined oil products, and computer manufacturers Acer and Quanta. With the organizers of those attacks essentially shielded from U.S. law enforcement in Eastern Europe and Russia, some firms have arranged multimillion-dollar payoffs to recover their stolen or locked data.

“Ultimately, the victims of cybercrime are people — employees, customers and owners of businesses small and large, in every corner of the nation,” Schnitzer said in a statement following the meeting. “Protecting their interests must be a priority, and I look forward to continuing to partner with the administration and my colleagues who gathered today to do just that.”

Schnitzer also announced that Travelers will join an initiative headed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop new cybersecurity guidelines for public and private sector entities. Microsoft, Google, IBM and cyber insurance provider Coalition also signed on to the program.

According to the White House, the NIST effort will help private employers, nonprofits and government agencies assess the security of technology products, including open-source software.