Does Cyber Insurance Cover System Failure?

Sometimes—some cyber policies cover a defined system failure even without an attack, but hardware, maintenance, utility, and known-defect exclusions may apply.

Some policies include a system-failure trigger; others focus on security incidents or define covered failures narrowly. Chubb describes interruption to insured systems in its product, but that company-specific summary does not establish that any outage is insured. A vendor system may also be treated under a separate dependent-business-interruption section.

Read the system-failure and security-event definitions together. Check exclusions for hardware breakdown, maintenance, utility interruption, prior known defects, or failure to patch, and see whether the policy requires an external cause. Note the waiting period, dependent-system wording, sublimit, and proof of lost income. Ask the insurer how the exact type of failure you depend on would be classified before choosing a limit.

Which Providers Offer Cyber Insurance?

Sources for This Answer

  1. Cyber Insurance. Federal Trade Commission; What Should Your Cyber Insurance Policy Cover; First-Party Coverage; Third-Party Coverage. Accessed 2026-09-25.
  2. CyberEdge specimen policy. AIG; General Terms §§4–6, PDF pp.3–6; Security and Privacy §§1–3, PDF pp.11, 14–18; Event Management §§1–2, PDF pp.19–20. Accessed 2026-09-25.
  3. Cyber insurance coverage & products. Chubb; Cyber insurance coverage; First party coverage; Third-party liability coverage; Cyber crime (by endorsement); Products and services. Accessed 2026-09-25.

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