Edwardsville, Ill., Looks to Expand Cyber Insurance Coverage

(TNS) — Edwardsville officials are taking steps to prevent the city from becoming a victim of a ransomware attack.

Finance Director Jeanne Wojcieszak and Information Technology Director Devin Gray requested cybersecurity insurance coverage from the finance panel on June 27.

MORE INFORMATION

• IMLRMA cyber insurance rates

• Third-party liability Limit per member Optional increased limits Total

• Multimedia liability $250,000 $750,000 $1 million

• Security and privacy liability $250,000 $750,000 $1 million

• Privacy, regulatory defense penalties $250,000 $750,000 $1 million

• PCI DSS Liability $250,000 $750,000 $1 million

• First-party liability Limit per member Optional increased limits Total

• Breach Event Costs $250,000 $750,000 $1 million

• BrandGuard $250,000 $750,000 $1 million

• System Failure $250,000 $750,000 $1 million

• Cyber Extortion $150,000 $100,000 $250,000

• Cyber Crime $100,000 $100,000 $200,000

• Aggregate Limit of Liability $250,000 $750,000 $1 million

Next, they want the city council to approve an additional Illinois Municipal League Risk Management Association (RMA) Cybersecurity Coverage for Plan Year 2024 in the amount of $15,724 for optional increased limits that would bring most coverage totals to $1 million.

The city had budgeted $20,000 for the insurance.

"About two years ago, RMA added cyber protection coverage into their package of insurance provided," Wojcieszak said. "Last year, we asked if there was an opportunity to purchase additional coverage that would extend the base limits currently provided."

She said one of the agreements covers the payment card industry data security standard liability and covers monetary fines, penalties, assessments, fraud recoveries, card reissuance costs and operational expenses or compliance case costs owed by the municipality resulting from a security breach or privacy breach related to credit card payment processing.

RMA offers two types of coverage, first-party and third-party for the city. First-party coverage pays expenses the municipality directly incurs as a result of a breach. Third-party coverage offers protection when a third-party sues the municipality for failing to prevent a breach, such as if a customer sues the city after a hacker steals personal data from the city's computer system and releases it online.

She said without this coverage, the most RMA would pay is $250,000 per member unless the member opted for the increased limits. With the increased limits, if the city council approves, that would jump to $1 million.

The issue will come before the city council at the 7 p.m. July 2 meeting at city hall.

EXAMPLES OF OTHER HACKS

Edwardsville is working to avoid becoming like other cities and organizations that have been the victims or ransomware attacks.

A ransomware attack usually is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid. Two of those have occurred near the city.

Just two days before Thanksgiving in 2021, Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey was hit by a ransomware attack on the college's computer network. College officials did not disclose the exact amount that had been demanded by the ransomware group.

The city of Quincy paid $650,000 to get out of its ransomware attack in May 2022. The city spent $500,000 for an encryption key, and $150,000 to make technology upgrades to make similar attacks in the future less likely.

Ransomware attacks aren't always about money, either.

In February 2021, the city of Oldsmar, Florida, was attacked when a hacker tried to poison the town's water supply by increasing the amount of sodium hydroxide to 100 times the normal concentrations. An operator who noticed the hack in real time stopped the chemicals from reaching the water supply.

©2024 The Telegraph, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.