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BOSTON and FRANKFURT, Germany, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

  -- Solactive BitSight Cyber Risk Index quantifies cyber risk for investors

BitSight, the Standard in Security Ratings, and Solactive, a German index

engineering firm, today released new research demonstrating that a company's

cybersecurity performance is an indicator of business performance.  Analysis

shows that indices composed of well-performing BitSight-rated companies

outperform their respective benchmarks by 1% to 2% annually.  For certain

sectors, such as U.S. Technology, well-rated companies outperform the benchmark

by 7% per year. The findings are an endorsement for today's introduction of the

Solactive BitSight Cyber Risk Index, a financial index that will enable investors to

invest in companies who are top cybersecurity performers as measured by BitSight.

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Investors are deeply concerned about cyber risk affecting their investment

portfolios. A 2019 Responsible Investment Survey (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2940735-1&h=861901349&u=https%3A%2F%2Fus.rbcgam.com%2Fresources%2Fdocs%2Fpdf%2FHTML-files%2Fweb%2F2019-Responsible-Investing-Survey-Results.pdf&a=2019+Responsible+Investment+Survey ) from RBC found

that cybersecurity is the #1 ESG risk for investors. A recent survey of more

than 60 institutional investors with $35 trillion in assets under management

conducted by the EY Center for Board Matters (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2940735-1&h=3889617079&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ey.com%2Fen_us%2Fboard-matters%2Fwhat-companies-are-disclosing-about-cybersecurity-risk-and-oversight&a=EY+Center+for+Board+Matters )

found that cybersecurity is the #3 threat to portfolio companies' strategic

success in the next three to five years.  

The Solactive BitSight Cyber Risk Index helps investors factor cyber risk into

their investment decision-making. By continuously and non-intrusively

collecting cybersecurity performance data on global organizations, BitSight

provides quantitative, objective and validated analytics, avoiding the data

collection challenges typically associated with ESG investing.  The Solactive

BitSight Cyber Risk Index can be used as direct underlying or benchmarks of

financial products such as ETFs or structured products across the following

five index universe compilations: U.S. Market, European Market, Developed

Markets, Asia-Pacific Market, and U.S. Technology Market.

Cybersecurity is both a risk and opportunity for investors

New Solactive analysis of BitSight Security Ratings demonstrates that investing

in strong cybersecurity performers can actually deliver higher returns. Until

now, investors have primarily thought of cybersecurity as a risk to the

portfolio; research (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2940735-1&h=3907872093&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.comparitech.com%2Fblog%2Finformation-security%2Fdata-breach-share-price-analysis%2F%23NASDAQ_benchmark_validation&a=research )

shows that share prices on average fall 7.27% in a two-week period after a

publicly disclosed breach.  By leveraging BitSight data, Solactive finds a

clear signal that companies with strong cybersecurity performance also

financially outperform their market peers.  This aligns with earlier

independent research (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2940735-1&h=1545694064&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bitsight.com%2Fdata&a=earlier+independent+research )

which shows that BitSight provides the only security rating statistically

correlated with a reduction in the risk of a breach.

Solactive created five Cyber Risk Indices composed of the top 25% of companies

based on cybersecurity performance as measured by BitSight.  The Cyber Risk

Index versions of U.S. Market, European Market, Developed Markets, and

Asia-Pacific Market all show a similar picture of a solid outperformance over

their respective benchmarks of around 1% to 2% per year. In the U.S. Technology

version, the Cyber Risk Index outperformed by the benchmark by 7% annually.

The market impact of the research and partnership

Steve Harvey, chief executive officer, BitSight: "BitSight is powering a new

era, where cyber risk is integrated into every market decision and strong,

measurable cybersecurity performance is a market differentiator.  This

unprecedented research based on BitSight's unique data will not only affect

investors' views on cybersecurity, but also the way that C-suite and security

professionals manage and measure cybersecurity performance inside of their

organizations.  For BitSight, this is another independent, statistical validation

of our market-leading Security Ratings, further cementing the reason why the

global marketplace -- investors, insurers, governments, and businesses

-- trust and use the BitSight platform.

Timo Pfeiffer, chief markets officer, Solactive: "For Solactive, it has always

been crucial to consider topics from different perspectives than the

mainstream. This attitude is why we wanted to work with BitSight in the

creation of our new Solactive BitSight Cyber Risk Indices, as both companies

realized the massive potential of cybersecurity-themed ESG investing. As

companies are more and more dependent on effective cybersecurity

infrastructure, this index reflects the crucial importance of this yet

understated sustainability aspect."

About Solactive AG

Solactive AG is an innovative index provider that focuses on the development,

calculation, and distribution of tailor-made indices across all asset classes.

As of January 2019, Solactive AG served approximately 400 clients in Europe,

America, and Asia, with approximately USD 200 billion invested in products

linked to indices calculated by the company globally, primarily via 380

exchange-traded funds from a number of well-known providers. Solactive AG was

established in 2007 and is headquartered in Frankfurt.

About BitSight

BitSight transforms how organizations manage cyber risk. The BitSight Security

Ratings Platform applies sophisticated algorithms, producing daily security

ratings that range from 250 to 900, to help organizations manage their own

security performance; mitigate third party risk; underwrite cyber insurance

policies; conduct financial diligence; and assess aggregate risk. With over

2,100 global customers and the largest ecosystem of users and information,

BitSight is the Standard in Security Ratings and was honored as a 2020 Most

Innovative Company by Fast Company. For more information, please visit

www.bitsight.com, read our blog (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2940735-1&h=2207587175&u=https%3A%2F%2Fbitsig.ht%2F2BLGTUg&a=blog )

or follow @BitSight (https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2940735-1&h=4278055313&u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FBitSight&a=%40BitSight ) on Twitter.

SOURCE: BitSight

CONTACT: Jacob Olcott, BitSight, jolcott@bitsight.com, +1 571-388-7044; Ali

Mapplethorpe, Highwire PR, bitsight@highwirepr.com, +1 415-675-1457