Social Engineering Scams Prompt Coverage Litigation, Crime Policy Changes

Recent court decisions have offered conflicting views on whether and how crime insurance policies should respond to social engineering scams, reflecting an ongoing industry discussion on how best to handle this rising tide of crime.

In late July, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the “funds transfer fraud” provision in a crime policy issued to Medidata Solutions by Federal Insurance, a Chubb subsidiary, would cover the loss of funds due to spoof emails directing a wire transfer. In a similar case decided Aug. 1, American Tooling Center v. Travelers, the United States District Court for the Eastern District determined that the “computer fraud” provision of a Travelers policy would not cover a similar social engineering scam.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2017/08/10/social-engineering-scams-prompt-coverage-litigation-crime-policy-changes/

Erin Ayers, Ransomware attacks jump 50 percent, but accidental breaches a ‘major problem’ (August 3, 2017), available with subscription at Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

Will Cyber-Related Business Interruption Coverage Pave the Road to Real Market Growth?

SAN FRANCISCO—One broker sitting on a panel at Advisen’s Cyber Risk Insights Conference here offered advice to his underwriting comrades: Be aggressive because the market is wide open.

“Go after manufacturers, go after industrial companies,” said Bob Parisi, managing director of cyber for Marsh, during the February 15 event. “We all know what happens in healthcare, retail, [financial institutions]—write those all day long and there will be claims. But if you want to diversify your book you’re going to have to learn how to write the property for an industrial control system.”

The discussion focused on cyber-related business interruption coverage and revealed some needs in the marketplace—at least through the eyes of the brokers on the panel.

Read more at http://www.advisenltd.com/2017/03/20/will-cyber-related-business-interruption-coverage-pave-road-real-market-growth/

Chad Hemenway, Will cyber-related business interruption coverage pave the road to real market growth? (March 20, 2017), available with subscription at Advisen Cyber Front Page News.