In 2017, Merck was a victim of the NotPetya cyberattack. The losses suffered by the pharmaceutical group were estimated at 1.4 billion USD. Insurers, including Ace, Zurich and Allianz, refused to compensate Merck on the grounds that the group's property insurance policy does not cover acts of war and that the cyberattack originated from a Russian attack on Ukraine (act of war).
A court in the state of New Jersey (USA) ruled on the issue. It decided that the insurance policy covers up to 1.75 billion USD any damage caused by the corruption of computer data. The court also underlined that the contract does not mention any exclusion of acts of war.
It is to be reminded that NotPetya had affected several large groups such as Mondelez, Reckitt, Benckiser and Maersk.
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