Beazley expands social engineering coverage

Specialist insurer Beazley said on Aug. 24 that it has launched a new excess policy for the US market that significantly expands the protection available to firms that fall victim of scams.

The cover includes impersonation scams by fraudsters convincing employees to wire funds to external accounts.

This and similar ‘social engineering’ attacks have proliferated in recent years, costing some companies millions of dollars, according to the statement. Insurance coverage to address the risk has largely failed to keep pace with the larger attacks, typically providing between $100,000 and $250,000 of protection.

Beazley’s new policy provides coverage of up to $5.0 million in excess of underlying coverage of at least $250,000. The coverage is available on a surplus lines basis only.

Bill Jennings, crime underwriter at Beazley, said: “Brokers and insureds have been clamouring for higher limits for social engineering risks, and we’ve come up with a very simple excess form to meet their needs. Our coverage can follow the terms of another insurer’s primary cover. It can also be used to boost the social engineering cover currently available under our own market-leading cyber policy, Beazley Breach Response.”

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