Corvus Insurance finds a trusted security and business partner in Expel

As a cyber insurance company, it’s Corvus’s job to care deeply about the cybersecurity of its policyholders. Its security team places a strong emphasis on the company’s own security fundamentals as well.

The Corvus security team knows that advancements in security engineering are significant contributors to the company’s success. Jason Rebholz, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Corvus, also understood that as the company grows, it needs robust detection and response capabilities. He explains, “We’re a small but mighty team. We must balance our time in securing our environment with effective monitoring it to protect against the latest security threats. We knew right off the bat that we wanted to rely on outside experts to handle detection and response. Looking outside our organization for trusted vendor partners to augment our security needs provides us with more resources and capabilities to properly monitor our environment and identify potential issues.”

Policyholders rely on Corvus to help them understand complex risks, and to provide ongoing cyber-threat monitoring and risk alerts. In the event of a claim, Corvus offers customers incident response support throughout the claim lifecycle, assisting with the engagement of vetted and trusted partners, such as breach counsel and forensics firms, to ensure success.

Of course, to do all of this and properly serve its customers, Corvus must be able to effectively manage risk and mitigate its own security vulnerabilities.

When Rebholz joined Corvus in 2021, he took a hard look at the cybersecurity posture of the organization to determine potential gaps, weak spots, and vulnerabilities. It wasn’t long before he realized that the managed security services provider (MSSP) Corvus had in place wasn’t the right fit.

“Trust is the single most important thing we look for when we’re outsourcing a capability,” says Rebholz. “We wanted a vendor partner that would guard our house the same way they’d guard their own.”

Once on board, Expel’s main responsibility became providing MDR services and supporting Corvus’ existing team.

“We need 24×7 coverage. Our internal team is great and they punch above their weight, but they also have to sleep, take time off, spend time with their families—generally have a life outside of work. I can relax knowing that if our team can’t get to something right away, or we’re focused on another initiative, Expel is on the case,” Rebholz says.

One of the ways that Expel stays on the case is by working seamlessly with the security tools Corvus already has in place. “I particularly love Expel’s integration with a wide range of security technologies. I don’t want to be trapped in a box with the solutions we use,” says Rebholz. “One of my favorite things about Expel is how easy it is to communicate with our Expel team.”

But while Corvus has robust cybersecurity capabilities, it’s not resting on its laurels. “Like so many organizations, we’re working hard to build out our security strategy, and that goes far beyond detection and response,” he notes. “We’re working on improving our engineering, our architecture, our GRC [governance, risk management, and compliance] functions…our entire security program. Having Expel on board gives us the head space to continue building out our organization.”

Rebholz points to one specific example as a perfect summation of how Expel helps Corvus’s security team. “We had an interesting alert that came in over a weekend. I was outside doing yard work, and Expel was in touch immediately,” he recalls. “At that point, we took the lead on investigating and Expel became an extension of our team. We seamlessly collaborated and the alert was resolved before it had a chance to escalate. It was exactly what we wanted to see from a managed security partner.”