Cyber terror report requirement added to TRIA reauthorization bill
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A proposed amendment to a bill introduced in U.S. House of Representatives to extend the federal terrorism insurance backstop would require a study on cyber terrorism and more information on the terror threat to the property of religious institutions.
The amendment to the bill, which is scheduled for markup by the House Committee on Financial Services next week, would require a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office “on cyber terrorism risks, and require biennial Treasury reporting that includes disaggregated data on places of worship,” according to the markup notice.
The backstop, widely referred to as TRIA after the original 2002 law that created it, is set to expire at the end of 2020. Last week, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representative to reauthorize the backstop.
The amendment also would reduce the extension to seven years from the original bill’s 10 years.
According to the amendment to last week’s bill, the cyber report should analyze overall vulnerabilities and the potential costs of cyberattacks to U.S. infrastructure, whether “cyber liability under a property and casualty line of insurance is adequate coverage for an act of cyber terrorism,” whether cyber risks can be adequately priced, and whether the risk-sharing mechanism under TRIA is appropriate for a cyber terrorism event; and set out recommendation on how Congress could amend the act to “meet the next generation of cyber threats,” according to the amendment.
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association welcomed the amended bill.
“This bipartisan bill will provide for a 7-year reauthorization and ensures that the program remains in place, without disrupting the marketplace. We urge the Committee to come together and pass this bill and for the full House to then take it up quickly,” Nat Wienecke, Washington-based senior vice president for federal government relations at the APCIA, said in a statement.
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