Cyber Insurers’ 2026 Recommendations: Patch, Strengthen MFA and Protect Backups

Summary

The hosts discuss cyber insurer recommendations for 2026, including replacing end-of-life systems, using stronger authentication, adopting zero trust, actively managing detection tools, and maintaining immutable backups.

Key points

• The discussion draws on Resilience research about cyber insurers’ recommendations for 2026.
• Replace unsupported, end-of-life systems that can no longer receive security patches.
• Prefer stronger MFA options over SMS where possible, and use password managers, passkeys, or physical security keys.
• Use zero trust and defense in depth rather than relying on firewalls and VPNs alone.
• MDR requires active management and analysis of alerts and indicators, not just access to dashboards.
• Maintain immutable enterprise backups that cannot be altered, deleted, or encrypted after they are written.
• Test and understand how to use security tools and backups; the hosts note that ransomware actors may target backups.