Specialty MGA

CrowdStrike Outage: Its impact and how we can help

23 July 2024

A version of this article was first published on LinkedIn on 23 July 2024.

 

Following last week’s CrowdStrike outage, impacting Microsoft Windows users, flights, and various sectors across the globe, our #FinancialLines and #Cyber teams have written about how Specialty MGA UK can help mitigate the severe impact of this crash.

Luke Hamlin, Tony Loizides and Lisa Rowe, CIP discuss the coverages they are looking at when it comes to the losses incurred by businesses as a result of the outage.

On Friday 19th July, a global outage was caused by a defect in a content update to CrowdStrike’s ‘Falcon’ cybersecurity defence software for Windows hosts users.

Impacts of the outage include:

  • Estimated 8.5 million Windows users affected according to Microsoft.
  • More than 3,000 flights cancelled, and a reported 23,900 flights delayed.
  • Healthcare industry impacted with not being able to access confidential health records.
  • Financial industry affected with trades on the stock exchange delayed and banks having user access issues.

Coverages:

System Failure and Business Interruption are the two coverages we are first looking at due to the event being reported as ‘non-malicious.’ These are relevant triggers on a cyber policy. However, a cyber policy should include an incident response and data restoration coverages as these may also be applicable and contribute to the losses incurred to businesses to get their systems back up running. This should be factored when reviewing your policy wording and schedule.

  • System Failure – An inability to access or use computer systems/software due to an event which has caused systems to go down, leading to incurred losses/costs for the failure to work.
  • Business Interruption – Loss of income and expenses suffered within the timeframe of the interruption and until restoration. Business interruption typically includes a ‘waiting period’ which is effectively a time deductible and usually ranges from 0-24hours but can sometimes be longer.
  • Dependent Business Interruption – Similar coverage to ‘business interruption’ but looking at it from the perspective of users who are dependent on another business’s services who are experiencing the outage, causing a ‘domino affect’ and preventing them from having the ability to generate income because of downtime.

We are dedicated to supporting our partners and clients through this challenging period. Our team is closely monitoring the situation and is ready to assist in assessing exposures and insurance coverage for our clients. Please get in touch if you believe the outage has impacted your business.

Tony Loizides

Senior Underwriter, Financial Lines & Cyber – Specialty MGA

Lisa Rowe

Senior Underwriter, Financial Lines & Cyber – Specialty MGA

Luke Hamlin

Senior Underwriter, Financial Lines & Cyber – Specialty MGA

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