The insurance industry will count on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) if there is a terrorist strike on the United States, but will the program respond if the act of terrorism is a cyber event?

Cyber terrorism is an emerging threat to be considered as debate surrounding the modernization and reauthorization of the program intensifies. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) of 2002 established the program, which has been reauthorized twice, most recently by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Extension Act of 2007. While the program provides a federal backstop for catastrophic terrorism events — above $100 million in losses — many have argued that whether and the extent to which it covers cyber terrorism is not entirely clear.