![war of beach hacks war of beach hacks](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3jOU3hrE050/maxresdefault.jpg)
![war of beach hacks war of beach hacks](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hb5af1Zo-sc/maxresdefault.jpg)
The Biden administration in recent months has looked to insurers to take a more prominent role in incentivizing companies to shore up their computer systems. Insurance experts say it is unclear how many insurers have adopted such language. In November, Lloyd’s Market Association, a trade group, published four first-of-their kind recommendations for how insurers can articulate act-of-war exclusions that cover hacks. The insurance industry continues to wrestle with cyber risk as more of daily life moves online and technology providers grow more connected. Mondelez didn’t respond to a request for comment. In a court filing last week, Zurich American Insurance criticized the ruling in the Merck case in part because it failed to grapple with attribution of the NotPetya hack to the Russian military and treated hacks as a unique form of warfare.Ĭyberattacks “have been part of the arsenal of weapons available to and used by nation states-particularly Russia-for many years,” said lawyers for Zurich American Insurance. In 2018 over NotPetya costs that the snackmaker said surpassed $100 million. Which makes Ritz crackers and Oreo cookies, sued property insurer Merck didn’t respond to requests for comment.Ī similar case in Illinois could play out differently, saidĪ partner at Kennedys Law LLP who focuses on insurance. He added that the source of the attack was irrelevant. “Having failed to change the policy language, Merck had every right to anticipate that the exclusion applied only to traditional forms of warfare,” Judge Walsh wrote. Of the Superior Court of New Jersey issued a partial ruling in the pharmaceutical company’s favor, in part because the clauses didn’t specifically cite cyberattacks. Kenilworth, N.J.-based Merck, which said it incurred $1.4 billion in costs as part of the so-called NotPetya hack, sued its property insurers for breach of contract after they denied coverage under general exclusions for acts of war. That incident rippled across connected computer networks to disrupt businesses including U.S. “But I’m not going to get into a hypothetical” about whether such hacks could constitute acts of war, she added.Ĭybersecurity experts in recent weeks have warned of incidents similar to the Russian military’s 2017 hack of a Ukrainian tax-preparation firm.