Cyber Insurance Exclusions: What War?
On April 15th, 2021, the Washington Foreign Law Society, in conjunction with the Stimson Center, hosted the second instalment of its series on "Cyber Accountability - Who did it? Is it wrong? Can they be stopped?". The conversation featured Mr. Jon Bateman (Carnegie Endowment) and Mr. Matthew McCabe (Marsh), and was moderated by Ms. Debra Decker (Stimson Center).
The topic of the day was cyber insurance exclusions, and conversely options available for businesses to shield themselves from state-sponsored cyberattacks. Mr. Bateman and Mr. McCabe discussed recent cases of cyber incidents affecting industry players, highlighting how some of them have led to unfulfilled insurance claims as a result of the assimilation of cyberattacks under contractual clauses excluding coverage in the event of war or terrorist activity.
Below is a list of references mentioned by our speakers during the session:
Matthew McCabe, Marsh, NotPetya Was Not Cyber “War”: https://www.marsh.com/us/insights/research/notpetya-was-not-cyber-war.html
Jon Bateman, War, Terrorism, and Catastrophe in Cyber Insurance: Understanding and Reforming Exclusions: https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/10/05/war-terrorism-and-catastrophe-in-cyber-insurance-understanding-and-reforming-exclusions-pub-82819
The Merck attack: Merck Cyberattack’s $1.3 Billion Question: Was It an Act of War? - Bloomberg
UK Solicitors Regulation Authority on proposed requirements for inclusion of a cyber incident clause in the minimum terms and conditions of professional indemnity insurance required of law firms: https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/consultations/consultation-listing/pii-cyber/
HACT Act: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/4189?r=5&s=1
Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community: https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2021-Unclassified-Report.pdf
UN Open-ended Working Group: https://www.un.org/disarmament/open-ended-working-group/
Carnegie Endowment Cyber Norms Index and Guidelines: https://carnegieendowment.org/publications/interactive/cybernorms#
UN Institute for Disarmament Research Cyber Policy Portal: https://unidir.org/cpp/en/
The Washington Foreign Law Society wishes to thank Mr. Bateman and Mr. McCabe for sharing their expertise and Ms. Decker for moderating the discussion. Stay tuned for more events of our Cyber Accountability series!
