Chamber of Commerce Teams up With Firms to Establish Standards on Cyber Ratings

Reuters is reporting that large corporations and banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Starbucks Corp. and Aetna, are jointly organizing with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to establish common principles to help them understand and possibly challenge their cybersecurity ratings given by startup firms. Reuters reports that startup firms that collect and analyze data to rate major companies on cybersecurity are gaining in prominence and attracting venture capital funding. Third parties, including insurers, use the ratings to assess companies’ ability to withstand cyberattacks and to evaluate firms’ cyber liability. Reuters quoted an information security executive at a large bank, who expressed concern that there is a lack of transparency around the methodology behind the ratings.