Treasury Asks if External Cyber Acts Qualify for Terrorism Risk Insurance Program – By Mariam Baksh (Nextgov) / Nov 9 2020
The Treasury Department wants feedback on how it should consider cyber events that occur outside the U.S. in officially folding cyber events into a national reinsurance program created to buttress insurance companies in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11.
After the terrorist attacks in 2011, companies found it difficult to secure insurance policies for property and casualties, according to a Federal Register notice set to publish Tuesday. So Congress passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act which required companies, under a temporary program, to make their policies available along with the disclosure of premiums and losses. In exchange, the government would establish triggers and caps for stepping in and supplementing payouts.
Congress has consistently reauthorized the program, including with the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2019 which extended it through December 2027.
In accordance with the new law, Treasury issued a request for comment on its proposal to incorporate its own 2016 guidance describing certain types of standalone cyber insurance policies that should be eligible under the program and asked some new questions.
