Cyber insurance guide
Cyber business interruption
Cyber business interruption replaces lost net income and pays extra expenses when a cyber event interrupts your computer systems.
What it covers
- Lost net income during the period of restoration
- Extra expense to keep operating, such as overtime or temporary systems
- Dependent business interruption from outages at cloud, software, or other service providers, if included
- System failure that is not caused by an attack, if included
- Forensic accounting costs to prove the loss
The waiting period and the period of restoration
Coverage begins after a time-based waiting period and continues until systems are restored with reasonable speed, sometimes with an extended period afterward while revenue recovers. Shorter waiting periods and longer restoration periods cost more.
Proving the loss
You need records of revenue before the event to show what you lost. Good monthly financials make claims faster. Many policies pay forensic accountants to prepare the claim.
Reducing downtime
Tested backups, documented recovery procedures, and an incident response plan shorten outages. Underwriters may ask how long it would take to restore critical systems. See our incident response plan guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the waiting period?
Cyber business interruption usually starts after a waiting period measured in hours, such as 8 or 12, set in the policy declarations.
Is a vendor's outage covered?
Dependent business interruption covers losses caused by an outage at a vendor you rely on, if the policy includes it. Limits are often lower.
Does it cover system failures without an attack?
Some policies cover unplanned system failure, not just security events. Others require a malicious act.
More coverage and guides
- First-party cyber coverage
- Third-party cyber liability
- Ransomware and cyber extortion coverage
- Social engineering and funds transfer fraud
- Cyber business interruption
- Regulatory defense and PCI coverage
- Data breach notification laws by state
- Security controls cyber insurers look for
- Cyber insurance application checklist
- What affects cyber insurance cost
- Building a cyber incident response plan
Last updated October 15, 2026 · How we research