Mondelez is suing Zurich Insurance for objecting to a compensation for a cyber attack.
Cybersecurity case in court: an unprecedented refusal
Zurich American Insurance Company is being prosecuted by the American multinational Mondelez (which holds the brands Lu, Milka, Hollywood, etc.) because the insurance company refuses to pay compensation to the Group for losses caused by the NotPetya global cyber attack in June 2017. (No one could decrypt it, contrary to WannaCry)
Insurance and Industry: crucial news for these two industries
This unprecedented legal case, highlighted by the Financial Times, is crucial for the insurance and industry sectors.
Mondelez claims to have suffered the consequences of two NotPetya attacks generating more than $100 million in losses and damages. Indeed, this cyber attack hit the group’s servers and computers, causing major consequences on their shipping process. In its claim to Zurich, the group reports that it was insured for “damage and physical losses caused to electronic data, programs and software, including[those] resulting from the malicious introduction of machine codes or instructions”.
But Zurich American Insurance Company refuses to compensate the multinational for the losses it has suffered, highlighting the exclusion clause in their contract: “for hostile acts or acts related to wars (‘warlike’)” or caused by “a government or a sovereign force”.
Faced with this, Mondelez replied and attacked the insurance company and claimed $100 million in damages.
A historic decision to come
The conclusion of this case will be unprecedented in the world of cybersecurity. The question is to determine whether or not the courts will treat NotPetya as an act of cyberwar and if cyber insurance coverage taken out by companies will be reliable and secure.
In a Boom of cyber-insurance
This case is emerging in a particularly positive context for insurance companies that are launching their cyber-insurance offers in mass. This growing market is expected to double in size in 2020 according to market experts’ predictions.
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