Managed detection and response (MDR) provider Arctic Wolf is offering its end users a comprehensive view on their cyber risk posture and readiness through free use of its Cyber JumpStart Portal.
The Cyber JumpStart Portal was previously available to Arctic Wolf’s Incident Response JumpStart Retainer customers and for prospects/customers of its insurance partners — 40,000 of them. Now, Arctic Wolf is bringing a suite of tools to the market so that individual end user organizations can access them free of charge.
While these tools can be accessed by any organization, Arctic Wolf is currently also evaluating how MSPs would want to interact with their end users through the Cyber JumpStart portal.
“Establishing the free Cyber JumpStart Portal is a crucial step toward our mission to help MSPs identify the gaps in their security posture,” Arctic Wolf Chief Product and Services Officer Dan Schiappa told MSSP Alert.
Schiappa explained that the portal is a turnkey solution for which 40,000 organizations have access to via Arctic Wolf’s insurance partner community. There has never been a cost associated for those organizations.
“We’re excited to give more end-user organizations the opportunity to work with our partner community on procuring the most effective tools and enhancements needed to increase insurability and improve risk management outcomes,” he said.
While the JumpStart Portal is only available to end user organizations, Arctic Wolf does have plans to offer it to the partner community in the future. They have no firm timeline at this point, but a partner’s customers are free to sign up for the portal on their own.
Arctic Wolf Channels Growth
The JumpStart Portal applies threat intelligence data from the Arctic Wolf Security Operations Cloud and the insights and best practices of the Arctic Wolf Concierge Security Team. Accordingly, the portal will provide business leaders a cybersecurity starter package that can help them qualify for cyber insurance.
The initial launch of the Cyber JumpStart Portal in 2023 focused on the clients of insurance carriers and brokers, since growing to support a global network of authorized broker and carrier partners.
“When we first launched Cyber JumpStart Portal, we solidified our partnership with the insurance brokers and carriers on the front lines of delivering insurability requirements to their clients,” Schiappa said. “Based on the positive feedback and growing interest in the program, we are expanding access to businesses of almost any size.”
Arctic Wolf notes that obtaining cyber insurance continues to challenge business leaders around the world. Citing a Forrester research blog from August 2023, only 26% of businesses have a standalone cyber insurance policy.
A Closer Look at the JumpStart Portal
Cyber JumpStart Portal features include:
- Cyber Resilience Assessment Lite offers options for customers to map security posture against industry-standard frameworks like NIST CSF 1.1, 2.0 and CIS Critical Security Controls v8.
- Arctic Wolf Insurability Rating is includedwith the included Cyber Resilience Assessment Lite tool, business leaders will receive an integrated cyber insurance rating aimed at improving insurability, simplifying qualification and renewals. This can be leveraged in insurance application and renewal cycles and in collaboration with brokers to offer artifacts of support for self-attestations.
- Incident Response (IR) Planner Lite enables collection of critical information needed to initiate incident response engagements, an often-mandatory requirement for obtaining cyber insurance. The IR plan created in the Arctic Wolf Cyber JumpStart Portal can be updated quickly, is stored safely off-network, and is immediately accessible to plan owners and IR teams in the event of a cyber incident.
- JumpStart Guides provide security resources and guided expertise on how to implement the security controls most often required to obtain and retain cyber insurance, continuing the necessary work to maintain cybersecurity readiness beyond insurability.
