ABA To Offer Cyber Insurance Coverage To Law Firms
Time 2 Minute Read
Categories: Cyber

The ABA announced last week that it would supplement its insurance coverage offerings to include cyber insurance. Chubb Limited will underwrite the insurance, which the ABA said “includes cyber coverage for a firm’s own expenses, such as network extortion, income loss and forensics, associated with a cyber-incident as well as for liability protection and defense costs.”

In its press release, the ABA referenced the revelations late last year that Chinese citizens had hacked two law firms to obtain information regarding mergers. The hackers then used that insider information to make more than $4 million by trading shares of the target companies.

Firms may also face lawsuits for failure to protect confidential information. For example, a Chicago firm was sued in a class action alleging that a failure to protect client’s confidential information. While traditional insurance policies may cover such a suit, cyber insurance policies are another available form of coverage.

Hackers can also launch ransomware attacks on law firms. Such attacks involve malicious software installed on a computer system. That software encrypts the files on the computer system, making the inaccessible. The hackers then threaten to destroy the files unless a ransom is paid. Again, cyber insurance policies can cover losses arising out of such events.

In sum, law firms are not immune from the cyber risks that face all companies and should consider cyber coverage to supplement other insurance policies that may cover cyber-related losses.

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    Patrick counsels clients on all aspects of insurance and reinsurance coverage. He assists clients in obtaining appropriate coverage and represents clients in resolving disputes over coverage, including in litigation and ...

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Update: On May 1, 2023, the New Jersey appeals court affirmed the trial court's decision that a war exclusion did not bar $1.4 billion in coverage for Merck’s losses stemming from the NotPetya attack.

On June 27, 2017, the skies over New Jersey were clear and the ground steady. But Merck & Co., a New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company, was under attack. Malware ripped through its computers, damaging 40,000 of them and causing over $1.4 billion in losses.

Merck was not the sole target.[1] Dubbed “NotPetya,” the virus tore through the US economy,[2] and did an estimated $10 billion in damage. The US Department of Justice charged six Russian nationals, alleged officers of Russia’s Intelligence Directorate (the GRU), for their roles in the NotPetya attack, among others. The attackers’ goal, according to the DOJ, was:

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