Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is more than an annoying popup or text message when logging onto a company’s website or platform. Not only is using MFA a sound security practice and good business,[1] it is frequently becoming a prerequisite to procuring (and keeping) cyber liability coverage. Following the May 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack which shut down the country’s largest oil pipeline for several days, more cyber insurers are now requiring policyholders to implement MFA. Last month, one tech manufacturer learned this lesson the hard way when its insurer filed suit for rescission of its insurance policy and a declaration that the insurer owed no coverage for the company’s losses stemming from a ransomware attack. Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America v. International Control Services Inc., No. 22-cv-2145, complaint filed, 2022 WL 2532994 (C.D. Ill. July 6, 2022).
