Caught in the Crossfire: War Exclusion and Commercial Policyholders

Tyler Gerking and Patrick Loi will discuss "Caught in the Crossfire: War Exclusion and Commercial Policyholders" to the ACC Bay Area Chapter. 

The “war” exclusion in cyber insurance policies has received increased attention over the past several months, particularly in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is unclear how the common form of the exclusion should operate in cyber insurance policies. Those policies are intended to cover cyber-attacks. From a policyholder’s standpoint, who originated the attack and their motivations should be irrelevant. In fact, it is often never established who perpetrated an attack and why. But the war exclusion seems to call for an almost impossible exercise of attribution and speculation about motives, and its language is opaque. The London insurance market recently proposed alternative versions of the exclusion, and insurers are considering their own revisions. We expect there to be significant changes in some markets in the next year or so. Join us as we discuss the issues this state of flux raises for policyholders.