In what could be the poster child case for closing the barn door after the horse has left, the Baltimore City Council has approved the purchase of cyber insurance, six months after the municipality suffered a damaging ransomware attack.
The Baltimore Sun reported the city conducted a bidding process and selected two plans. “The first plan, for $10 million in liability coverage from Chubb Insurance, will cost $500,103 in premium. The second, for $10 million in excess coverage, will be provided by AXA XL Insurance for $335,000,” the Sun wrote.
Each plan has a $1 million deductible.
The May attack saw Robbinhood ransomware effectively taking the city offline, except for emergency services, with the attackers demanding a $76,000 ransom, which the city refused to pay. This began a series of problems for Baltimore that ranged from being taunted by its attackers to having to deal with the financial fallout estimated at $18 million.
