Will Insurance Cover Ransom Payment?

May 6, 2022

Caution, include firms' council when asking these questions.

What will the Insurance Company cover?

Will they cover the cost of the ransom payment?

What will they provide during a ransom attack?

Will they cover the cost of any regulatory fines?

Here is why you want to have a conversation with your insurance company.  Not all insurance is the same.  Not all insurance will pay if the firm is lacking in its cybersecurity posture.  You need to know this upfront.  Insurance companies now provide their Lawyers, Forensics Team, and Breach Coaches. 

Many states now require notification of a breach within 72 hours.  Depending on the breach, you may need to perform a notification to the States Attorney General's office.

 

Will you need to notify?

This is where you get your money's worth from the insurance company.  This is also why the Insurance Company will bring in its forensic and lawyer teams.  When the forensics team is complete, the lawyers will help you make an informed decision. 

 

Do you have a Breach Coach?

Breach Coaches are essential in today's world.  They understand the steps needed during a breach and recovery process and when the recovery process can begin. 

Including a breach coach during your assessments will help you ask the right question to make educated decisions.

 

Ransom payment negotiation.

Some insurance companies provide a ransom negotiating team.  When you receive the Ransom notification, a Bitcoin payment is displayed.  It is usually a pretty high number.  Some Ransomware hackers will renegotiate the ransom, but you have to respond quickly.  The insurance company's negotiating team has done this before and so understand what they can negotiate and what they can't.  Having an experienced Ransomware negotiator will go a long way in getting the issue resolved more quickly.

 

Making the payment.

Here again some insurance companies will provide these services.  Setting up a Bitcoin account could take a couple of days.  This is time lost for the business.  Using you insurance companies resources would speed up that process. 

As you can see, there are so many questions to be answered.  This is why having these discussion ahead of time may save you valuable time.

 

DataSoftNow will help you through the process.

By Thomas Nohs
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