DeNexus hires two as it expands cyber risk services into Europe

DeNexus, a specialist provider of software for cyber risk quantification for large industrial and critical infrastructure corporates, has chosen Switzerland as the home of its European operations, and hired two industry experts to establish a cyber centre of excellence in the region.

The new office has opened in Lugano, Switzerland, and is part of the company’s goal to create a new hub for cyber knowledge in Switzerland as part of the DeNexus Knowledge Center.

To start, DeNexus has hired Marco Sabitini and Mario Pio Gioiosa to the new office, with plans to add more members to the team in the future.

Sabitini, a senior software architect who joins from Nozomi Networks, is the Co-Founder of Software Craftmanship Ticino. In his most recent role, he worked as a software engineer.

Gioiosa joins DeNexus from lastminute.com, where he served as Technical Reference and Software Engineer.

According to DeNexus, the pair will help to further develop credible modelling on financial impact of cyber breaches for both cyber risk management and risk transfer communities. Both will report to Alessandro Nepoti, the firm’s Chief Technology Officer.

Commenting on the new office launch and appointments, Nepoti said, “Switzerland is an ideal base for us to open our European operations, as it combines German, eastern and southern European influences and it is a traditional hub for the insurance business. The cyber risk management and risk transfer communities need to trust the numbers when it comes to cyber breaches, and for that, you need to attract the top software talent, which we have done with the appointments of Marco and Mario, who bring unique software and big data experience to DeNexus.”

Jose Seara, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DeNexus, added, “I am excited to have recruited such talented software engineers and architects, which will help DeNexus to expand the horizons of our R&D team.”

Through its DeRISK platform, DeNexus says it has created a range of second-generation cyber models, which utilise inside-out and outside-in data to build unit risk and bottom-up detailed risk accumulation models for portfolios. These are designed to help industrial entities, underwriters, reinsurers, and insurance-linked securities (ILS) investors better understand the real risks and financial impacts associated with cyber-attacks.

Through its work helping reinsurers and ILS investors gain visibility and understanding of cyber risks they may face, DeNexus actively engages with ILS markets and hopes to stimulate development of cyber ILS in it.