Increasingly, companies and organizations are experiencing cyber attacks that involve extortion plots. 

While insurance can mitigate this risk, the coverage available is limited. This is why frank discussions between policyholders, brokers and underwriters is key to understanding this exposure and the insurance products that are available to respond in the event of an incident involving ransomware or other extortion tools in cyber criminal's quivers.

Cyber extortion plots

Recent cyber extortion incidents share some common characteristics: They often use ransomware  a type of malware that infects the victim's computer system by disguising itself as normal files or links. This malware could cause serious damage and trigger potential liability to third parties by encrypting the files on the victim's computer system, rendering them inaccessible. Oftentimes, the perpetrators are located in foreign countries that are difficult or impossible for the law enforcement to pursue.