For the first time since Erie Insurance confirmed on June 8 that the company was experiencing an information security incident, President and CEO Tim Necastro granted an on camera interview.

He told Erie News Now he is impressed with the company's resilience, and relieved that they have resumed full operations.

First, Erie Insurance officials announced by statement in late June that they have control of their network and are not at this time subject to a ransomware attack.

The company had more positive news to share Monday when they announced the results of a forensic investigation by independent cybersecurity specialists.  Tim Necastro said, "Early yesterday we learned that we also had no breach of any private information or sensitive information, as those things are defined by law, so we were able to report that, really...signaling the all clear."

While dealing with a cyber attack was not how Necastro hoped the insurance giant would spend part of its 100th anniversary, the president and CEO said he is encouraged by how the entire team came together to help get Erie Insurance back to normal. "This has been a challenging time, but it's also been an encouraging time -- the way that our employees and agents came together and the effort that was put into getting us back fully operational was extremely impressive," Necastro said.

In his view, navigating this moment was a modern day demonstration of the company's historic resilience, and how founder H.O. Hirt had to pivot time and time again in the first 50 years after starting the company in 1925, leading it through the depression and war time. "That same spirit of pioneering and service first, service to each other - that was demonstrated in real time, so H.O. never had to encounter a cyber attack, but if he had, I'm confident he would have done some of the same exact things I did," Necastro said.

In weathering the cyber storm, the president and CEO said Erie Insurance learned a lot.  ""We learned a lot during this time frame, kind of like we did during the pandemic but in a much shorter, concentrated dose, but some things we're going to take away are going to help us build our business in the future," he added.

Necastro said he appreciated how patient customers and long time policy holders have been during the network outage.  He said many called in just to see how the company was doing, or because they wanted to pay their bills.

He declined to comment on a handful of federal lawsuits filed, alleging a data breach, but the results of the forensic investigation speak for themselves.

You can watch the complete interview with Tim Necastro covering the information security incident, and the 100th anniversary of the company this weekend on the Insider with host Lisa Adams.