Moody’s and Team8 Launch Joint Venture to Create a Global Cyber Risk Standard

The joint venture will build on Moody’s experience in developing methodologies and global standards to measure risk, together with Team8’s expertise in cybersecurity technologies, unique access to cyber talent and distinctive understanding of the global cyber threat landscape. This combined expertise will focus on the development of innovative methods and technologies that effectively measure and analyze cyber risks facing global corporations.

This will include serving the needs of Boards of Directors, Audit Committees, Chief Executives, Risk and Security Officers for objective cyber risk assessment to better understand companies’ own cyber posture and how it benchmarks against others and over time. The cyber risk service will also assess the cyber preparedness of acquired companies in M&A transactions and serve as a key measure when purchasing cyber insurance policies.

The joint venture builds on Moody’s 2018 strategic investment in Team8 which provided access to cybersecurity research and innovation as well as deeper connections to cyber leaders across countries and industries. The company will also develop new technologies and capabilities for assessing cyber risk while engaging best of breed products, services and consulting, creating an ecosystem to collectively address this critical need.

Derek Vadala will lead the joint venture as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Vadala comes to this role after 16 years at Moody’s, where he most recently served as Managing Director, Global Head of Cyber Risk for Moody’s Corporation. Prior to that, he served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Moody’s, with global responsibility for information risk and security. Mr. Vadala has over 20 years of experience in information security and technology management.

Joining the joint venture’s Board of Directors are Nadav Zafrir, Co-Founder and CEO of Team8; Jim Rosenthal, Co-Founder and CEO of BlueVoyant and the Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley until 2017; and Simon Hastilow, Managing Director, Global Head of Commercial at Moody’s Investors Service.

“The combination of Team8’s industry-leading knowledge and experience in cybersecurity and Moody’s expertise in analyzing and quantifying financial risk allows for the creation of a unique capability to serve as a standard for cyber risk assessment,” said Derek Vadala.

“There is a real necessity in the marketplace for an efficient, objective and independent assessment mechanism to assess the cyber posture of companies around the world. We are excited to embark on this journey with Moody’s and are confident that together we can establish a first-of-its-kind global standard for evaluating the complex cyber risk facing enterprises,” said Nadav Zafrir.

The joint venture will not have a material impact on Moody’s financial results in 2019.

ABOUT TEAM8
Team8 is a leading think tank and company creation platform specializing in cyber resilience and data science. Leveraging the expertise of former leaders from Israel’s elite military intelligence Unit 8200, Team8 is supported by an in-house team of top researchers, engineers and analysts. Team8 combines its in-depth understanding of cyber threat, data science and AI to develop disruptive technologies and category-leading companies that enable businesses to reap the benefits of digital transformation in an agile and secure manner. Team8 is backed by some of the world’s most renowned businesses including Cisco, Microsoft, AT&T, Walmart, Airbus, Softbank, Accenture, Qualcomm, Moody’s, Munich-Re, Dimension Data, Nokia and Scotiabank. For more information, please visit www.team8.vc.