CrowdStrike Global Outage Losses Estimated to be $1.5B: CyberCube

Global insured losses from last week's massive IT outage are projected to range from $400 million to $1.5 billion, according to cyber analytics firm CyberCube. This disruption was caused by a software bug in CrowdStrike's quality-control system, leading to a global crash of computers and affecting various sectors, including aviation and banking.

CyberCube noted that this incident might represent the single largest cyber insurance loss to date. Despite its significance, the firm emphasized that it does not match the catastrophic potential against which leading insurers are currently holding capital.

Parametrix, another insurer, estimated that the insured losses from the outage range from $540 million to $1.08 billion, specifically for Fortune 500 companies, excluding Microsoft, which was also impacted by the CrowdStrike bug.

Major cyber insurer Beazley stated that it has no plans to alter its guidance on its combined ratio, a crucial metric for underwriting profitability, following the outage.

Ratings agency Fitch reported that the global insurance and reinsurance industry is likely to avoid a major financial impact from the event. Nonetheless, reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter indicated that insurers might face claims related to directors' and officers insurance and property insurance, in addition to cyber insurance claims.