Cradle to the Grave: The Full Lifecycle of a Cyber Claim with Toni Sukhan

Season 2 /
/Episode 35

Cradle to the Grave: The Full Lifecycle of a Cyber Claim with Toni Sukhan

In this podcast episode, we feature cyber claims examiner Toni Sukhan as she outlines the critical steps businesses must take when facing a cyber incident. Sukhan, with over 20 years of experience, stresses the immediate need to notify an insurance carrier to ensure coverage and proper handling. She details a multi-disciplinary process involving breach counsel, forensic IT experts, and forensic accountants, explaining how this team manages incidents from initial notification to investigation and recovery. Sukhan also highlights the careful and highly-regulated decision-making process involved in ransom payments, which are treated as a last resort and require thorough assessment, legal compliance, and expert negotiation to mitigate risk and ensure a safe recovery of data.

The episode particularly emphasizes the vulnerability of small to medium-sized businesses, which are disproportionately targeted by cybercriminals. According to Sukhan, the most crucial preventive measure for these businesses is maintaining viable and frequent data backups. She likens the cyber claims process to emergency room triage—stabilizing the situation, restoring systems, and then reconciling losses. This structured approach, combined with the expert management of ransom negotiations, underscores the complexity of modern cyber claims and the necessity of proactive preparation and a clear incident response plan.

#CyberClaims #Ransomware #Cybersecurity #DataBreach #SmallBusinessSecurity #Insurance #IncidentResponse

NO POWER. NO BUSINESS: The Hidden Dependency Behind the Digital Economy with Nick Vandenbrekel

In this episode of the Safe House Initiative Podcast, host Jeff Edwards welcomes Nick Vandenbrekel, electrical engineer, entrepreneur, and CEO of NFluxion and FTG Energy, to explore the growing vulnerabilities of our electrical infrastructure and why the future of energy may depend on decentralization.

With more than 40 years of experience in electrical engineering and energy systems, Nick explains why our aging electrical grid is struggling to keep pace with modern demands—particularly the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and data centers.

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AI without the fear: Where small businesses should start.

Mikaela Myers, Co-Founder and CEO of Navi Solutions and former AWS Responsible AI product manager shares a practical approach to AI adoption for small and midsize businesses. Mikaela breaks down Responsible AI in plain English, including security, privacy, fairness, safety, governance and transparency. Stop asking what you can do with AI. Start asking what problem in your business is worth solving!

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Protecting Rural America from Cyber Threats: Inside the PISCES Mission with Mike Hamilton

What happens when rural hospitals, public utilities, schools, and small governments become targets of cyberattacks but lack the resources to defend themselves?

In this episode of The SafeHouse Podcast, Jeff Edwards welcomes Mike Hamilton, former Seattle CISO and CTO of PISCES International, a nonprofit organization delivering free cybersecurity monitoring and real-world workforce training to underserved communities across the United States.

This conversation is based on a real-world, three-part series designed for everyday people who suddenly find themselves dealing with a hacked account, fraud, or a suspicious alert.

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What to Do If You Get Hacked: A Practical Survival Guide with Alan Gin

In this SafeHouse episode, Jeff Edwards and Alan Gin break down what actually happens when a cyber incident hits and what you should do next.

This conversation is based on a real-world, three-part series designed for everyday people who suddenly find themselves dealing with a hacked account, fraud, or a suspicious alert.

If you’ve ever wondered what you would actually do in that moment, this episode walks you through it step by step.

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Cyber Risk: Where Mitigation Meets Insurance With Michael Phillips

Cyber risk management is often framed as a choice between prevention and insurance. In reality, the most resilient organizations combine both.
In this episode of The SafeHouse, Jeff Edwards speaks with Michael Phillips, Global Head of Cyber at Coalition, about how insurers evaluate cyber risk and why mitigation and insurance must work together.

Building on a previous discussion about the elements of risk management, the conversation explores how underwriters think about cyber exposure, what signals insurers look for when assessing organizations, and why operational resilience is becoming central to modern cyber insurance.

The result is a practical discussion about how businesses should approach cyber risk today.

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