When the Town of Peterborough, New Hampshire, announced earlier this week that it lost $2.3 million to a business email compromise scam, officials also said it was unlikely the 7,000-person community would ever recover that money.
The lost sum, which amounted to nearly 15% of the town’s annual budget, is not expected to be covered by the local government’s insurance policy. While that’s typical for losses due to BEC attacks — which typically are not covered by cyber insurance policies — the news came at a time when a premiums are on the rise, fueled by an onslaught of claims filed by organizations that’ve suffered ransomware attacks.
Peterborough, like many small towns, has a general liability policy rather than a specific plan for cyberattacks. But in state governments, more officials are contemplating if they should — or can — keep their cyber insurance plans, especially as some insurers say they’ll stop covering ransomware payments.
“We’re wondering as a state, what’s the point of cyber insurance?” one state official told…
