In the course of conducting our business, we may hold or have access to sensitive, confidential, proprietary or personal data or information belonging to us, our employees or third parties, including customers, partners or suppliers. Increased cybersecurity vulnerabilities and threats, and more sophisticated and targeted cyber-attacks and other security incidents, pose risks to our and our customers', partners', suppliers' and third-party service providers' systems, data, and business, and the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of our and our employees' and customers' data. We utilize various procedures and controls to monitor and mitigate our exposure including maintaining a dedicated Cyber Fusion Center ("CFC") and engaging third party experts. For more information see the "Risk Management & Strategy" section of Part 1 of Item 1C herein. While we attempt to mitigate these risks, we remain vulnerable to cyber-attacks and other security incidents, including ransomware incidents. Given our global footprint, the large number of customers, partners, suppliers and service providers with which we do business, and the increasing sophistication and complexity of cyber-attacks, an incident could occur and persist for an extended period without detection. Any investigation of a cyber-attack or other security incident would be inherently unpredictable, and it would take time before the completion of any investigation and the availability of full and reliable information. During such time we would not necessarily know the extent of the harm or how best to remediate it, and certain errors or actions could be repeated or compounded before they are discovered and remediated, all or any of which would further increase the costs and consequences of such an incident. We may be required to expend significant resources to protect against, respond to, and recover from any cyber-attacks and other security incidents. As cyber-attacks continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities. In addition, our remediation efforts may not be successful. The inability to implement, maintain and upgrade adequate safeguards could materially and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In addition to our own systems, we use third-party service providers, who in turn may also use third-party providers, to process certain data or information on our behalf. Due to applicable laws and regulations or contractual obligations, we may be held responsible for cybersecurity incidents attributed to our service providers or other third parties to the extent affecting information we share with them. Although we contractually require these third parties to implement and maintain reasonable security measures, we cannot control third parties and cannot guarantee that a security breach will not occur in their systems.
Our digital technologies and services, as well as third-party products, services and technologies on which we rely (including emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence programs), are subject to the risk of cyberattacks. Despite our and our service providers' efforts to protect our data and information, there can be no assurance that the systems we have designed to prevent or limit the effects of cyber incidents or attacks will be sufficient to prevent or detect material consequences arising from such incidents or attacks, or to avoid a material adverse impact on our systems after such incidents or attacks occur. In the normal conduct of our business, we and our service providers have been and may in the future be vulnerable to security breaches, ransomware attacks, theft, misplaced or lost data, programming errors, phishing attacks, denial of service attacks, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, malware, employee errors and/or malfeasance or similar events, including those perpetrated by criminals or nation-state actors, that could potentially lead to the compromise, unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification or destruction of data or information, improper use of our systems, defective products, loss of access to our data, production downtimes and operational disruptions; and, given the nature of such attacks, some incidents may remain undetected for a period of time despite efforts to detect and respond to them in a timely manner. In addition, a cyber-attack or any other significant compromise or breach of our data security, media reports about such an incident, whether accurate or not, or, under certain circumstances, our failure to make adequate or timely disclosures to the public, law enforcement agencies or affected individuals following any such event, whether due to delayed discovery or a failure to follow existing protocols, could adversely impact our operating results and result in other negative consequences, including damage to our reputation or competitiveness, harm to our relationships with customers, partners, suppliers and other third parties, distraction to our management, remediation or increased protection costs, significant litigation or regulatory action, fines and penalties. Cyberattacks are expected to accelerate on a global basis in both frequency and magnitude as threat actors become increasingly sophisticated in techniques and tools (including artificial intelligence) that circumvent controls, evade detection and even remove forensic evidence of the infiltration. Given the increased prevalence of customer-imposed connectivity, cybersecurity controls and other related contractual obligations towards customers or other third parties, there are an increased number of attack vectors and a cyber-attack or other security incident also could result in breach of contract or indemnity claims against us by customers or other counterparties.
While we currently maintain cybersecurity insurance, such insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to cybersecurity breaches or attacks, failures or other data security-related incidents, and we cannot be certain that cyber insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms, or at all, or that an insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could materially and adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.