A large Chinese cybersecurity firm is using artificial intelligence to identify security vulnerabilities in widely used software applications, positioning itself as a competitor to Anthropic PBC, according to a new report. The company, 360 Digital Security Group, has in recent months said it has developed an AI-powered “Vulnerability Discovery Agent” that has uncovered close to 1,000 previously unknown vulnerabilities, including in Microsoft’s Office and in OpenClaw, an open-source framework for building and deploying AI agent workflows, according to the report published Wednesday by Natto Thoughts, a research group focused on Chinese cybersecurity. Representatives for 360 did not immediately respond to…
Author: Awais
Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. has now fully-placed its catastrophe reinsurance for the coming year and has secured a further $352 million of multi-year cover to extend its catastrophe protection, with the firm’s CEO Stephen Donaghy saying he was pleased with the market support.Universal Insurance Holdings has always been an early mover when it comes to locking-in all-important catastrophe reinsurance protection well in advance of the hurricane season. Back in February, CEO Stephen Donaghy said that Universal had already placed around 90% of its first-event catastrophe reinsurance tower and was set to add multi-year cover to protect it into the 2027…
Huge plumes of smoke blanketed swaths of the Southeast on Wednesday as crews battled rapidly growing wildfires that destroyed more than 50 homes in Georgia and forced hundreds to flee the drought- and wind-fueled flames. Some of the biggest blazes were near Georgia’s coast, while others were popping up in northern Florida, a state facing one of its worst fire seasons in decades. It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but the bottom half of Georgia is perilously dry and the conditions prompted the state’s forestry commission to issue a burn ban for the first time in its…
More than 17 million people along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are at the highest risk of being affected by flooding, with New York and New Orleans standing out, according to one of the most comprehensive studies ever of flood risk. Researchers at the University of Alabama used 16 different factors including the geographic hazards, the population and infrastructure exposed and the vulnerability of people living there. They then brought in past damages from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s database and applied three different artificial intelligence tools to figure out flood risks from Texas to Maine, calculating that 17.5…
00:11 Insurance Business TV recently attended in Scottsdale the 25th annual TMPAA00:09 annual summit. Whilst there, we caught up with leading insurance professionals to address some of the top challenges00:17 the industry is facing today. Hello, I’m here with Raymond Hannan, EVP and chief of corporate underwriting at Westfield00:26 Specialty. Raymond, we’re here at the target market conference talking about a specialty insurance and now everything is getting more complex and more niche.00:35 I wondered if you could talk about that in your organization.00:38 Absolutely. Um, Target Markets has been a great uh conference for us so far. Uh,00:44 it’s…
The report compiled by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., found procedures in the state that were previously approved in two weeks now take four to eight weeks to be authorized.
he U.S. Federal Trade Commission is settling its case against a private equity portfolio company it says was used to buy up anesthesiology practices and raise prices in Texas, according to court documents filed on Thursday. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT The FTC sued U.S. Anesthesia Partners (USAP) under the Biden administration in a major move by antitrust regulators to tackle private equity rollups, or purchases of many small businesses that allegedly decrease competition across an industry. Private equity firms will look closely at the terms of the settlement, which have not yet been made public. CONTEXT The FTC under President Donald…
Texas is planning new rules to speed up its response to so-called zombie oil wells after the number of sites leaking toxic wastewater increased more than 50% this year. Oil companies in the largest US crude-producing state are pumping so much wastewater underground that oilfield fluids are bursting through old wells and onto the surface, particularly in the Permian Basin. The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oil and gas regulator, is proposing new emergency measures that would shut wastewater injection within a two-mile radius of a leaking well or compel nearby operators to clean up the site themselves. The…
Inszone Insurance Services announced the acquisition of James R. Vozar Insurance Agency. With offices in Athens, Quincy, and Union City, Michigan, this acquisition further strengthens Inszone’s presence in the Midwest and adds deep specialized knowledge in the agricultural sector to its portfolio. Founded in 1969 by James R. Vozar, the agency has spent over 55 years growing into one of the premier independent insurance shops in Michigan. As a family-rooted business, the agency built a strong reputation for protecting the livelihoods of its local communities, specializing heavily in agricultural and farm insurance, alongside comprehensive personal and commercial lines. Under the…
Large chunks of ice rammed into homes along Michigan’s Black Lake in the northeastern Lower Peninsula as constant spring rainfall and winter melt left many homes flooded and threatened to overflow stressed dam systems. Photos and video posted to social media Wednesday showed ice sitting inside living rooms after it busted through windows and doors. Homes, garages and sheds could also be seen surrounded by several feet of muddy, brown river and lake water. Spring rains and winter snowmelt have swelled rivers and lakes, forcing torrents of water through Cheboygan County communities on its way to Lake Huron. “Black Lake,…
Driverless fleets could shift responsibility away from individuals, disrupt gig work, and force a rethink of commercial auto coverage
The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) first catastrophe bond offerings have now been successfully priced in the market, with the result being a $160 million capital market-backed source of parametric earthquake and extreme precipitation disaster risk financing, evenly split between the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.It’s an important first step in the catastrophe bond market for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and its member countries, as the multilateral development bank has now proven the concept of issuing what it has termed Disaster Relief Bonds (DRB) to benefit two of its members, securing efficient disaster risk financing from institutional and insurance-linked securities (ILS)…
Major corporations are pushing back against a possible tightening of emissions reporting standards that would have implications for the clean energy transition in years to come. More than 60 companies — including Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., General Motors Co., FedEx Corp., BYD Co. and Patagonia — submitted a joint statement Wednesday to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, asking that some of its potential revisions to how companies report their Scope 2 emissions be optional rather than mandatory. The climate governing body is considering stricter rules to help tamp down on greenwashing risks, and the new rules would go into effect as…
President Donald Trump said he would look into the actions of banks in their response to last year’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires following a meeting with that city’s mayor, Karen Bass. Trump said he met with Bass and other officials to discuss the “progress made on the horrific fires that ravaged Los Angeles, and the surrounding area,” and praised “Insurance Companies” for the way “they were treating the Home Owners.” Related: California Wildfire Risk Bills Cruising Through Legislature “The Banks, however, have a long way to go, and we will be looking into their actions, effective immediately,” Trump said in…