Does Cyber Insurance Cover Business Email Compromise?

The FBI describes business email compromise (BEC) as a scam that can impersonate a vendor or executive and redirect a payment. A compromised mailbox may create a security incident, while the diverted wire is a separate financial loss. A cyber policy might cover forensic work to investigate the account but require a crime endorsement to address transferred funds. Chubb, for example, lists social-engineering and funds-transfer protections as endorsements for its product.

Ask whether the policy distinguishes spoofed email from access to a legitimate mailbox, and whether it covers changed payment instructions sent by a criminal. Review required callback or dual-approval steps, the fraud sublimit, retention, and prompt-notice condition. Check the crime policy too, including any exclusion for transfers made by an employee. Report the event to the bank and follow the insurer’s response instructions.