Today’s insurance carriers are facing wide range of challenges around cyber incidents, including:
- Ever Increasing budgets
- Unanswered questions/risk to data
- Lack of proactive communication
- Credibility of Incident Response and Recovery in the face of regulation, litigation, and appropriate coverage.
What does this mean for the broader ecosystem? Firms operating at the intersection of incident response, litigation support, and claims review are finding that traditional models are often insufficient. Technical know-how alone is no longer enough. The current reality demands cross-functional teams with credibility, judgment, and a proven ability to communicate clearly across legal, technical, and executive audiences.
Enter StoneTurn. Our cybersecurity team not only handles the highest stakes incidents, but we also serve as a leading expert services firm in high-stakes cybersecurity litigation issues and complex claims disputes.
Rocky Terrain Ahead: Navigating Disputes, Litigation and Cyber Incidents
The escalation in breach-related litigation highlights how cybersecurity has become a material reputational concern. In just the past year, cases such as the ransomware attack on Hertz have brought to the surface how arduous and expensive the litigation tail can be following an incident. These events are no longer isolated to IT—they become enterprise-wide issues with stakeholders ranging from regulators to insurers to class counsel.
In this context, expert analysis must go beyond identifying malware variants, network logs, and data exposure. It must support defensible narratives that can withstand legal scrutiny, regulatory reviews, and the expectations of boards and audit committees. That’s where true cyber expertise—not just technical aptitude—comes into play.
Litigation Support in Cyber Incidents: A Different Kind of Challenge
In high-stakes cyber matters, the difference often comes down to process and rigor. For example:
- Do the IR approach and findings hold up under regulatory guidance or cross-examination?
- Are reports written for multiple audiences—technical, legal, and executive?
- Can the analysis bridge gaps between incident response and claims disputes?
Many firms enter cyber matters with a playbook. But as investigations evolve—especially those involving zero-day vulnerabilities or cross-border data issues—the value lies in the ability to adapt, interpret, and communicate clearly when the stakes are highest. It’s no longer enough to simply conduct the investigation. Legal teams need experts they can rely on to communicate what happened and how it happened, as well as short and long-term impacts to the business.
Communication: The Often-Overlooked Factor
One of the most frequent pain points among legal teams, carriers, and clients is communication. Delayed updates, unclear timelines, and inconsistent documentation can quickly erode trust—even when the technical work is solid.
On the ground, seasoned professionals know that the real work doesn’t happen between 9 and 5. It happens on the midnight call, the weekend incident briefing, or during a 1 a.m. scoping call. Responsiveness isn’t just about customer service—it’s about making sure decisions are based on timely, reliable information when it matters most.
What’s more, today’s incident responders need to have a baseline understanding of the legal ramifications that accompany a cyber incident. Experienced IR professionals will be knowledgeable about how to best work alongside legal counsel to maintain privilege and avoid unnecessary communication errors that may disrupt the broader lifecycle of a dispute or litigation.
Evolving from Reactive to Strategic
The cybersecurity response model has matured over the past decade. What was once centered on credit card data breaches has shifted toward a broader, more dynamic threat landscape. As ransomware and BECs became dominant, organizations realized that incident response couldn’t be siloed—it had to integrate with legal risk, insurance coverage, and stakeholder reporting.
Today, many organizations are moving from reactive postures to more strategic ones. They’re asking tougher questions:
- Is this investigation truly complete?
- Are we confident the findings will stand up in court?
- Can we rely on this team not just to investigate, but to help us defensibly navigate what comes next for remediation and possible legal risk?
This maturity in expectations has led to higher standards across the board—technical depth, yes, but also legal defensibility, communication skills, and stakeholder alignment.
Looking Ahead: The Need for Hybrid Expertise
Cybersecurity is no longer a purely technical discipline—it’s a hybrid space that demands expertise in digital forensics, litigation strategy, regulatory nuance, and business risk. The professionals who thrive here are those who can operate at that intersection and bring structure to uncertainty.
Whether it’s guiding a law firm through discovery, helping a carrier understand the nuances of a claim, or supporting an enterprise through ongoing litigation, what separates good work from great is often less about tools—and more about judgment.
As the industry evolves, the value of seasoned, cross-functional teams becomes increasingly clear. In an environment where the margin for error is razor-thin, it’s not just about who responds fastest—it’s about who delivers the clearest answers, at the most critical time.
Learn more about our services at www.stoneturn.com/cybersecurity.
—
If you have any questions or would like to discuss these topics please reach out to Steve Kopeck.
To receive StoneTurn Insights, sign up for our newsletter.
