Port seeks terrorism insurance

MOSES LAKE — The Port of Moses Lake will spend around $362,000 this year to buy a terrorism insurance policy. Just in case.

According to Kim DeTrolio, director of finance and administration for the port, the stowing of more than 250 Boeing 737 Max jets in Moses Lake has raised the Grant County International Airport’s profile and “created insurance issues.”

Boeing has its own coverage for its planes, DeTrolio said. Any attempt to damage or destroy one or more 737s would also likely do significant damage to port property, and the port’s current insurance coverage does not cover acts of terrorism.

“Our current coverage would not cover damage to our property,” she said.

Most standard commercial and business insurance does not cover damages caused by acts of terrorism or acts of war as certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury, according to guidelines published on the website of the Insurance Information Institute, requiring individuals or businesses to take out special terrorism insurance riders or separate policies.

Under federal law, an act of terrorism — whether domestic or international — is defined as a violent act intended to coerce a civilian population, intimidate or influence government policy, or alter government conduct “by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.”

DeTrolio said the added insurance would also cover cyberattacks on the port’s data and information, including hackers who successfully hold the port’s data and electronic systems hostage.

The port’s data was taken hostage in 2017, DeTrolio said, and the port’s computer system has only grown more sophisticated since then.

Frank Chmelik, the port’s attorney, told commissioners that hackers are increasingly turning their malware on governments, in hope they will pay hefty ransoms to have their data released.

“They’ve moved through the easy targets, and now they are moving on to governments,” he said.

In summer of 2019, the Moses Lake School District’s computer systems and online backups were crippled for several weeks by a ransomware attack after a school district employee inadvertently clicked on a link in an email. Rather than pay the ransom, however, the district isolated the infected systems and recreated the data from two-week-old backups.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].