Organizations can now buy cyber insurance that covers deepfakes

Sometimes they do so by imitating an employee’s CEO, urging them to transfer large sums of money or provide them access to work accounts. Other times this fake media is created by a competitor or bad actor to ruin the reputation of executives or their companies.

Now cybersecurity insurance provider Coalition is offering coverage to organizations for deepfake-related incidents. On Tuesday, the company announced its cybersecurity insurance policies will now cover certain deepfake incidents, including ones that lead to reputational harm. The coverage will also include response services such as forensic analysis, legal support for takedown and removal for deepfakes online and crisis communications assistance.

In response to questions about deepfake coverage, Michael Phillips, head of Coalition’s cyber portfolio underwriting, said Coalition has covered deepfake-enabled fraud leading to fraudulent transfers since last year. Now, coverage is being expanded to “any video, image, or audio content that is created or manipulated through the use of AI by a third party, and that falsely purports to be authentic content depicting any past or present executive or employee, or falsely frames the organization’s products or services.”

“Today’s threat actors use AI and deepfakes for more than quick rip-and-run wire transfer theft, so we expanded our coverage to include the additional expenses a business could incur,” Phillips wrote. “We have seen many examples of this type of threat in recent headlines. For example, the deepfake of Warren Buffett promoting fake investment and crypto schemes forced Berkshire Hathaway to issue public warnings not only to protect its reputation, but also to prevent the spread of misinformation, market manipulation, and investor fraud.”