Energy companies need insurance cover for cyber attack ‘time bomb’

By Michael Szabo LONDON (Reuters) – Energy companies have no insurance against major cyber attacks, reinsurance broker Willis said on Tuesday, likening the threat to a “time bomb” that could cost the industry billions of dollars. Willis highlighted the industry’s vulnerability to cyber threats in its annual review of the energy sector’s insurance market, which called on insurers to find a way to provide cover. “A major energy catastrophe – on the same scale as … Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon – could be caused by a cyber attack, and, crucially, that cover for such a loss is generally not currently provided by the energy insurance market,” the insurance broker said. It said the lack of coverage stemmed from a clause included in most energy sector insurance agreements over the past 10 years that explicitly excludes loss or damage caused by software, viruses or other malicious computer code.

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