LIU Adds Cyber Extortion Endorsement to Product Recall Policies

Liberty International Underwriters (LIU), part of Liberty Mutual Insurance, has launched a cyber extortion endorsement to its Product Recall and Contamination insurance policy for food and beverage companies.

This endorsement offers coverage to food and beverage policyholders for cyber extortion monies and consultant costs up to the policy sub-limit for acts against production and day-to-day operations.

“With operations being mostly automated now and an increasing reliance on technology, the food and beverage industry faces a very real risk of having its systems hijacked by cyber criminals and held for ransom,” said LIU Senior Vice President of Global Crisis Management, Jane McCarthy. “But what many companies don’t realize is that cyber extortion is not always covered under a typical cyber policy or by a general liability policy. We developed this to address the risks associated with new technology and –‘ransomware’–, malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.”

LIU’s cyber extortion endorsement also gives policyholders pre-incident access to its crisis consultancy — red24 — in order to facilitate development of a response-ready plan and enable swift action when an incident occurs.

According to McCarthy, the new offering is a result of collaboration with LIU’s colleagues in Australia, who developed and launched the product in their insurance market in late 2015.

Part of Liberty Mutual Insurance, Liberty International Underwriters (LIU) distributes global specialty lines products and services exclusively through the independent broker network worldwide.

Topics Cyber