The U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security launched a website called stopransomware.gov to provide resources for people, businesses and other organizations.
The legislative Interim Finance Committee was told Wednesday that the increasing number of ransomware attacks in the country have caused a major increase in the cost of cyber-security insurance.
Director of Administration Laura Freed said insurance against such attacks is up more than 500 percent from $70,000 to $481,000 this year.
Bob Denhart, of the information technology division, said ransomware attacks have doubled since 2019 and public entities are heavily targeted because they don’t spend nearly as much on security as private companies.
Risk Management Manager Mandy Hagler said public companies are considered higher risk and because of that, some insurers are not willing to cover them.
As for cyber security insurance, she said they have a quote this year but, “if we can’t get renewed next fiscal year, we may have to go down the path of self-insurance.”
She said a number of other states have done that.
Property and content insurance for the state is also up but not by as much — $1.7 million to $2.4 million.
The state is also expecting an increase in “excess liability” premiums — tort claim insurance — but more like 20-30 percent.
Freed said they’re waiting for a quote on tort claim insurance.
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