Bright red envelope indicating an email scam. Social engineering scams have led internet crime complaints for the past four years, as cybercriminals become increasingly savvy. (Photo: JustSuper/Adobe Stock)

While social engineering and fraudulent instruction claims may have been covered by cyber insurers in the past, the steady rise in losses has led some insurers to cease offering the coverage, while others have quietly begun adding language within cyber policies and making it clear that insureds need to prove (i.e., independently verify) requests for payment to outside sources.

Typically, this means the attack victim can't rely on payment directives within an email alone but must also seek confirmation via an alternative form of communication to verify that the payment request is real.

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