Zurich Insurance says that Cyber-Attacks Will Become ‘Uninsurable’

In an interview with the Financial Times, Zurich’s CEO, Mario Greco, has warned that cyber-attacks will become “uninsurable” as the disruption from hacks continues to grow. We regard this as incrementally positive for AI Cyber Security names as it will force more companies to adopt sophisticated counter measures against hackers.

Recently cyber losses have prompted underwriters to limit their exposure, with some insurers raising prices and tweaking policies. In 2022, insurer Zurich reached a settlement with Mondelez International to close a $100 million lawsuit against the insurer for refusing to pay out on cyber claims related to the 2017 NotPetya attack. Zurich had denied claims from Mondelez on the grounds that the NotPetya attack, had been a state-sponsored attack by Russia and therefore fell under its act of war exemptions.

In a similar vein, Lloyds introduced an amendment to its policies in 2022 which sought to reduce systematic risk from cyber-attacks. They did so by introducing an exemption clause is the attacks were deemed to be state-sponsored.

However, the difficulty of identifying those behind attacks and their affiliations makes such exemptions legally arduous. Cyber experts have also warned that rising prices and bigger exceptions could put off people buying any protection.

Greco states that there is a limit to how much the private sector can absorb, in terms of underwriting all the losses coming from cyber-attacks. He called on governments to set up private-public schemes to handle systemic cyber risks that can’t be quantified, like those that exist in some jurisdictions for earthquakes or terror attacks.

Amazon Prime Air Starts Drone Deliveries in California and Texas

Amazon has announced that it has begun making drone deliveries is California and Texas. After receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and local officials, it has launched its delivery service in Lockeford, California and will build it based on customer feedback. Lockeford is a rural town about 100 miles east of San Francisco, with an estimated population of about 3,500. Amazon also has some facilities in the city's San Joaquin County.

Lockeford residents will soon be able to sign up for drone deliveries for free. Amazon has been working with a goal of a five-pound (2.25kg) payload, which may sound small but represents 85% of Amazon deliveries. For comparison, Walmart's drone delivery service claims up to three pounds (1.35 kg), and Alphabet's Wing can carry 2.5 lbs (1.14 kg).

After placing an order for a delivery drone, the customers will get an estimated time arrival and status tracker and the aim is for deliveries in under 60 minutes. The drone will fly to the designated delivery location, descend to the customer's backyard, and hover at a safe height, before releasing the package and rising back up to altitude. Prime Air is different from the competing drone delivery services that use parachutes and long tethers. Amazon's drone will hover at a close distance (six feet) before lowering its package.

The drone, leverages a hexagonal shape that provides six-degrees of freedom, giving it more stability. It also has propellers designed to minimize high-frequency sound waves. In terms of safety, Amazon claims that the issue is covered with a "sense-and-avoid system."

MIT Unveils Robotic Drug Delivery Capsule Called RoboCap (a great name)

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a robotic capsule designed to increase drug absorption by clearing mucus in the gut and depositing drugs directly on the intestinal surface.

The absorption of drugs taken by mouth can be limited by the physical conditions within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. For example, the intestines are coated in layers of mucus designed to protect the layer of cells that line the intestine – the intestinal epithelium – from colonisation by bacteria. Additionally, epithelial cells are joined by cellular “tight junctions” that regulate the permeability of the epithelium, helping to prevent intestinal contents from leaking into the body.

These physical constraints mean that some drugs are not suitable to be taken as capsules or pills and must be taken parenterally (i.e., not by mouth or through the digestive tract). One example of this is insulin, a peptide hormone taken daily by millions of people with diabetes worldwide to regulate their blood sugar levels. When taken orally, insulin has less than 1% bioavailability, meaning that it must be injected underneath the skin (subcutaneously), which can become a significant burden for these patients.

The motorised robotic capsule is the same size as a large multivitamin pill. It features a “cargo hold” that stores the drug and a gelatinous coating that protects tissue from damage and discomfort after swallowing. Once the RoboCap reaches the stomach, gastric acid degrades the gelatin coating and the pH change after it passes into the small intestine and dissolves a pH-sensitive membrane. This triggers the activation of the RoboCap by closing an electrical circuit within the capsule. Once active, the RoboCap begins to spin. The capsule’s helical surface and studded texture make contact with the plicae (large circular folds of tissue) and villi (microscopic finger-like protrusions) on the intestine’s surface, which churns and clears away the mucus layer. The drug payload is then gradually released in this cleared area with each rotation of the RoboCap, depositing the drug directly onto the intestinal surface.