| Feature | Commercial General Liability (CGL) | Cyber Privacy Liability |
|---|---|---|
| Covers bodily injury/property damage | Yes | No |
| Covers wrongful collection of data | No (excluded by most ISO forms) | Yes |
| Responds to BIPA claims | Typically excluded or sublimited | Yes, if biometric coverage is included |
| Covers regulatory defense | No | Yes, under most forms |
| Covers class action defense costs | Only for covered claims (rare for privacy) | Yes, subject to policy terms |
| Duty to defend vs. duty to reimburse | Duty to defend (standard) | Varies by form: check your policy |
Picture a 14-person CPA firm in Rochester on April 9. Three preparers are working through extensions, the portal is holding 2,400 client returns, and a partner's "voice" calls the bookkeeper to approve a $180,000 transfer for a client closing. Cyber insurance for accounting and CPA firms is built for that week, but only if the policy form actually reaches the loss you suffer.
Most firms buy this coverage the way they buy office supplies: renew what came last year. The brochure promises breach response, fraud protection and regulatory defense. The contract, meanwhile, defines each of those through separate insuring agreements, sublimits and exclusions.
We read those forms for a living. The gap between what a CPA practice thinks it bought and what the coverage grant says is usually measurable in dollars, and it is cheaper to find before a claim than during one.
Why Accounting Firms Are High-Value Targets for Cybercrime
An accounting firm holds the complete identity file for every client. That means Social Security numbers, dependents' data, bank routing numbers, W-2s, K-1s, and often payroll credentials and brokerage statements. A retailer loses card numbers; a CPA firm loses everything needed to file a fraudulent return or open credit in a client's name.
Attackers also know the operational profile. Many firms with 10 to 50 staff run without in-house IT, rely on a single managed service provider and grant broad access to seasonal hires. Remote work, client portals and shared tax software logins widen the entry points further.
The trust relationship is the third factor. Clients expect emails from their accountant requesting documents or payment instructions, so a compromised firm mailbox becomes a delivery mechanism against the client base. If your firm is breached, the loss rarely stays inside your network: it travels to every client who trusted your letterhead.
By: Caden Braly
Founder of Bloc Cyber Insurance
INDEX
Why Accounting Firms Are High-Value Targets for Cybercrime
Critical Risks: Tax-Season Exposure and Wire Fraud
Cyber Insurance vs. Professional Liability Coverage
Essential Coverage Components for CPA Practices
Determining Policy Limits and Premium Costs
Security Requirements to Qualify for Coverage
Bloc Cyber and Its Licensed Producers Are Authorized to Place Cyber Coverage in All 50 U.S. States and The District of Columbia.
Cyber liability insurance covers the financial losses your business faces after a cyberattack or data breach. This page explains what the coverage includes, who needs it, what it costs, and how Bloc Cyber helps you get protected fast.
We start with a twenty-minute call to walk through your contracts, your draw process, your tech stack, and the last twelve months of attempted fraud. From there we go to market with ten-plus carriers, benchmark terms side-by-side, and present the options in plain language with recommended limits and retentions. Most intakes get indicative terms within one business day.
This comparison underscores why relying on a single policy form without reading the endorsements creates dangerous gaps. A thorough form-level review, the kind Bloc Cyber performs before placement, identifies whether your social engineering sublimit actually matches your average outbound wire size.
Critical Risks: Tax-Season Exposure and Wire Fraud
Two exposures account for most of the severe losses we see in accounting practices. The first is concentrated: data volume and staff strain peak in the same 10 weeks. The second is transactional: money moves on instructions that can be faked.
Managing the Tax-Season Surge in Data Volume
Between February and mid-April, a firm's record count can double as returns, organizers and source documents arrive. Temporary preparers receive credentials, portal uploads spike and attachments get emailed outside secure channels to meet deadlines. Each shortcut adds to the number of records a breach would expose.
This matters because breach-response costs scale with record count and state of residence. A firm in Buffalo serving clients in New York, New Jersey and Florida must satisfy each state's notification trigger and timeline, not just New York's. If your limits were set against an October record count, they may be undersized by April.
Social Engineering and Fraudulent Wire Transfers
Wire fraud has moved past spoofed emails. Deepfake-related losses in the U.S. tripled to $1.1 billion in 2025, and attackers can clone a partner's voice from three seconds of audio to authorize a transfer.
The catch is contractual. Many cyber forms treat voluntary transfers induced by deception as social engineering, often under a sublimit of $100,000 or $250,000 with its own retention. Some forms also require callback verification as a condition of coverage. If your staff skipped the callback, the policy may decline the claim entirely.
We start with a twenty-minute call to walk through your contracts, your draw process, your tech stack, and the last twelve months of attempted fraud. From there we go to market with ten-plus carriers, benchmark terms side-by-side, and present the options in plain language with recommended limits and retentions. Most intakes get indicative terms within one business day.
| Coverage Element | Standard Policy | Comprehensive Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Ransom Payment Sublimit | $100,000 - $250,000 | Full policy limit |
| Negotiation Services | Panel vendor only | Choice of vendor with pre-approval |
| Sanctions Screening | Included | Included with legal counsel |
| Data Restoration | Subject to separate sublimit | Included in aggregate limit |
| System Rebuild | Limited to like-kind replacement | Includes upgrades if required by regulation |
| Business Interruption Waiting Period | 12 - 24 hours | 6 - 8 hours |
| Dependent Business Interruption | Excluded | Included with sublimit |
Internal Threats: When Employee Information is Compromised
Employee data exposure is often overlooked in privacy liability planning. Your HR systems hold Social Security numbers, direct deposit information, health records, and sometimes biometric data. A breach of employee records triggers notification obligations under state law and can generate lawsuits from your own workforce.
Insider threats, whether from a disgruntled employee exfiltrating data or a payroll vendor suffering a breach, create exposure that sits at the intersection of cyber liability and employment practices liability. Not every cyber form covers claims brought by employees: some policies contain an "insured vs. insured" exclusion that bars coverage when the claimant is also an employee. This is a gap that must be identified during the placement process, not discovered during a claim.
Cyber Insurance vs. Professional Liability Coverage
CPA firms often assume their accountants' professional liability policy handles a breach. It usually does not, or it responds only narrowly. Professional liability answers allegations that you breached the standard of care in rendering professional services: a missed deduction, a flawed audit opinion, bad tax advice.
That is a negligence theory. A breach-of-contract claim, by contrast, alleges you failed to perform what an engagement letter promised, such as a confidentiality clause. Cyber claims frequently blend both, plus statutory privacy violations, and the professional liability form may exclude data incidents or cap them with a small sublimit.
| Exposure | Professional Liability | Cyber Liability |
|---|---|---|
| Error in tax return | Primary coverage | Not designed for it |
| Forensics and notification | Rarely included | Core first-party grant |
| Ransomware and extortion | Generally excluded | Typically included |
| Client suits after breach | Possibly, if sublimited | Third-party privacy liability |
| Regulatory investigations | Limited | Regulatory defense, where insurable |
| Funds transfer fraud | Excluded | Often sublimited |
The two policies must be read together. If an incident sits between them, both carriers may point at each other.
We start with a twenty-minute call to walk through your contracts, your draw process, your tech stack, and the last twelve months of attempted fraud. From there we go to market with ten-plus carriers, benchmark terms side-by-side, and present the options in plain language with recommended limits and retentions. Most intakes get indicative terms within one business day.
| Coverage Element | Commercial General Liability | Cyber Insurance |
|---|---|---|
| Data breach notification costs | Not covered | Covered under first-party |
| Ransomware payment | Not covered | Covered (subject to sublimit) |
| Regulatory defense | Not covered | Covered under third-party |
| Business interruption from cyberattack | Not covered | Covered with waiting period |
| Funds transfer fraud | Not covered | Covered via cyber crime endorsement |
| Third-party lawsuit over data loss | Excluded or severely limited | Covered under third-party liability |
| Technology product failure | Not covered | Covered under Tech E&O |
Carriers view social engineering as a high-frequency, controllable-risk exposure. Unlike a data breach that may involve millions of records, a wire fraud loss is often the result of a single procedural failure. Insurers price and limit accordingly. A company with a $1 million crime policy might carry only $250,000 in social engineering coverage. If a single BEC attack costs $400,000, the policy pays $250,000 and the insured absorbs the rest. Some endorsements also apply co-insurance, meaning the carrier pays only 50% or 75% of the loss up to the sublimit. On a $250,000 sublimit with 50% co-insurance, your maximum recovery is $125,000.
Why Social Engineering Limits are Lower Than Policy Aggregate
Social engineering losses are almost always first-party: your company sent money to a criminal. The loss belongs to you, not to a customer or third party filing a claim against you. This distinction matters because third-party liability coverage on a cyber form will not respond. You need a first-party coverage grant, either within a crime policy or as a standalone endorsement, that explicitly names social engineering or fraudulent impersonation as a covered peril.
The Importance of First-Party vs. Third-Party Loss
Essential Coverage Components for CPA Practices
A cyber policy is not one product. It is a bundle of separate insuring agreements, each with its own trigger, limit and retention. Your firm buys eight coverages when it thinks it is buying one.
First-Party Response and Recovery Costs
First-party coverage pays your own costs after an incident. For an accounting firm, the critical grants include:
- Breach response: forensics, legal counsel, notification, call center and credit monitoring
- Business interruption: lost income during downtime, subject to a waiting period often between 8 and 24 hours
- Data restoration: rebuilding client files and tax software environments
- Cyber extortion: ransomware negotiation and payment, where lawful
- Funds transfer and social engineering fraud: usually sublimited
Check whether business interruption covers dependent systems. If your cloud tax platform goes down for 11 days in March, a form without dependent business interruption may not respond.
Third-Party Defense and Regulatory Fines
Third-party coverage responds when others pursue you. That includes client lawsuits for privacy violations, network security liability when malware spreads from your systems, and regulatory defense.
Accounting firms face distinct regulatory exposure. The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to tax preparers, and firms licensed or operating in New York may face NYDFS Part 500 obligations depending on their structure and clients. Fines and penalties are covered only where insurable by law, and the form defines that differently by state.
We start with a twenty-minute call to walk through your contracts, your draw process, your tech stack, and the last twelve months of attempted fraud. From there we go to market with ten-plus carriers, benchmark terms side-by-side, and present the options in plain language with recommended limits and retentions. Most intakes get indicative terms within one business day.
Determining Policy Limits and Premium Costs
Limits should be built from your record count, not from a round number. Start by counting unique client records at peak season, multiply by realistic per-record response costs, then add business interruption for two to three weeks of lost billing during deadline season.
Small-to-mid-sized accounting firms with 5 to 20 CPAs typically face premiums ranging from $15,000 to over $40,000 per year. The spread reflects revenue, record volume, controls, claims history and limit selected. The broader U.S. market reached approximately $9.46 billion in direct written premiums in 2025, a 3.5% increase, which signals a stable but disciplined underwriting environment.
Here's what that means for you: pricing rewards documented controls. Stress-test your retention against cash flow too. A $25,000 retention looks manageable until it applies separately to a breach and a social engineering loss in the same April. Also audit client contracts and engagement letters, since some institutional clients now require minimum cyber limits from their accountants.
We start with a twenty-minute call to walk through your contracts, your draw process, your tech stack, and the last twelve months of attempted fraud. From there we go to market with ten-plus carriers, benchmark terms side-by-side, and present the options in plain language with recommended limits and retentions. Most intakes get indicative terms within one business day.
| Coverage Element | Commercial General Liability | Cyber Insurance |
|---|---|---|
| Data breach notification costs | Not covered | Covered under first-party |
| Ransomware payment | Not covered | Covered (subject to sublimit) |
| Regulatory defense | Not covered | Covered under third-party |
| Business interruption from cyberattack | Not covered | Covered with waiting period |
| Funds transfer fraud | Not covered | Covered via cyber crime endorsement |
| Third-party lawsuit over data loss | Excluded or severely limited | Covered under third-party liability |
| Technology product failure | Not covered | Covered under Tech E&O |
It depends on your policy. Many standard policies require a specific "Cyber Crime" endorsement to cover losses from being tricked into sending money to a fraudster.
Does cyber insurance cover social engineering scams?
Is deepfake fraud covered under standard impersonation terms?
It depends entirely on the policy language. Many forms written before 2024 reference only email or written communication. If the endorsement does not explicitly include voice or video impersonation, a deepfake-based claim may fall outside the coverage grant. Ask your broker to confirm the form addresses synthetic media.
Security Requirements to Qualify for Coverage
Underwriters now ask detailed control questions, and the answers become part of the contract. If your application misstates a control, the carrier may contest coverage after a claim. Treat the application as a sworn technical document.
Controls most carriers expect from a CPA firm include:
- Multifactor authentication on email, remote access, portals and privileged accounts
- Endpoint detection and response on every device, including seasonal staff laptops
- Offline or immutable backups tested at least quarterly
- Written callback verification for any payment or banking change
- Security awareness training covering deepfake voice and video requests
- A written information security plan, which the Safeguards Rule already requires of tax preparers
One thing to keep in mind: controls must be in place across the policy period, not just on the application date. If MFA is disabled for a temporary hire in February, that exception may be what the carrier examines first.
We start with a twenty-minute call to walk through your contracts, your draw process, your tech stack, and the last twelve months of attempted fraud. From there we go to market with ten-plus carriers, benchmark terms side-by-side, and present the options in plain language with recommended limits and retentions. Most intakes get indicative terms within one business day.
Common Questions About Cyber Insurance for CPAs
Does my professional liability policy cover a data breach? Usually only partially. Many accountants' professional liability forms exclude or sublimit data incidents, so a standalone cyber policy fills that gap.
Will cyber insurance cover a fake wire transfer request? A policy form may respond under a social engineering or funds transfer insuring agreement, depending on how it is written. These are often sublimited and may require callback verification.
How much coverage does a small CPA firm need? Base the limit on peak-season record count, notification costs across your clients' states and downtime cost. Many smaller firms find $1 million is too thin once business interruption is included.
Are IRS or state penalties covered? Regulatory defense costs often are. Fines and penalties are covered only where insurable under applicable law.
Does coverage apply if my cloud tax software is breached? Only if the form includes dependent business interruption and covers data held by vendors on your behalf. Check both definitions.
What happens if we skip a security control we listed? The carrier may deny or limit the claim based on misrepresentation. Keep controls consistent all year.
We start with a twenty-minute call to walk through your contracts, your draw process, your tech stack, and the last twelve months of attempted fraud. From there we go to market with ten-plus carriers, benchmark terms side-by-side, and present the options in plain language with recommended limits and retentions. Most intakes get indicative terms within one business day.
| Coverage Element | Commercial General Liability | Cyber Insurance |
|---|---|---|
| Data breach notification costs | Not covered | Covered under first-party |
| Ransomware payment | Not covered | Covered (subject to sublimit) |
| Regulatory defense | Not covered | Covered under third-party |
| Business interruption from cyberattack | Not covered | Covered with waiting period |
| Funds transfer fraud | Not covered | Covered via cyber crime endorsement |
| Third-party lawsuit over data loss | Excluded or severely limited | Covered under third-party liability |
| Technology product failure | Not covered | Covered under Tech E&O |
It depends on your policy. Many standard policies require a specific "Cyber Crime" endorsement to cover losses from being tricked into sending money to a fraudster.
Does cyber insurance cover social engineering scams?
Is deepfake fraud covered under standard impersonation terms?
It depends entirely on the policy language. Many forms written before 2024 reference only email or written communication. If the endorsement does not explicitly include voice or video impersonation, a deepfake-based claim may fall outside the coverage grant. Ask your broker to confirm the form addresses synthetic media.
Making the Right Choice for Your Firm
Choosing cyber insurance for a CPA practice comes down to reading the form, not the summary. Confirm that social engineering limits match how your firm actually moves money, that limits reflect peak tax-season record volume, and that your professional liability and cyber policies do not leave an incident unclaimed between them.
Ask your broker three questions: what is the social engineering sublimit, what is the business interruption waiting period, and which controls are warranted on the application. If your broker cannot answer those from the form itself, you do not have an answer.
Bloc Cyber places cyber liability insurance at the insuring-agreement level, so you see where each coverage grant stops before you bind. Request coverage review with a specialist who will walk through the policy form with you, line by line, ahead of your next tax season.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caden Braly
— Founder, Bloc Cyber
I'm Caden Braly, founder of Bloc Cyber, the specialty cyber insurance arm of Braly Insurance. I built Bloc Cyber around one idea: businesses deserve coverage that actually responds when a cyberattack happens. I work closely with clients to understand their exposure, place the right policy through specialty carriers, and stand with them through the claim. My goal is simple — give every business straight answers and protection they can trust.
Full profile → caden@bloccyber.com LinkedIn
Industries We Protect
Cyber Coverage Built for Your Industry
Every industry faces a different cyber threat, from patient records in healthcare to wire fraud in construction. Bloc Cyber matches coverage to the risks your sector actually faces, drawing on specialty carriers that understand your business. Find your industry below to see how we protect it.
Healthcare
Banking
Retail / E-Commerce
Legal
Technology / SaaS
Education
Energy / Utilities
Manufacturing
Construction
Defense
Healthcare
HIPAA-grade protection for patient data
725
healthcare breaches disclosed in 2024
HIPAA-grade protection for patient data
▣ Ransomware on EHR systems
▣ PHI exfiltration
▣ Medical device exploits
▣ Business email compromise
Sub-sectors we place
Hospitals and health systems
Physician practices and specialty clinics
Dental practices and DSOs
Behavioral health and addiction treatment centers
Medical billing and revenue cycle management firms
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Banking
Coverage that meets FFIEC and NYDFS expectations
$5.9M
average cost of a financial sector breach
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ Wire fraud and BEC
▣ Credential stuffing
▣ Third-party vendor risk
▣ Ransomware
Sub-sectors we place
Community banks
Credit unions
Mortgage lenders and loan originators
Wealth management and RIAs
Payment processors and merchant acquirers
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Retail / E-Commerce
PCI-DSS aligned coverage for every checkout
42%
of retailers hit by ransomware in the last year
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ Magecart / card skimming
▣ POS malware
▣ Account takeover
▣ Supply-chain intrusion
Sub-sectors we place
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands
Shopify and marketplace sellers
Brick-and-mortar multi-location retailers
Restaurants and QSR franchises
Grocery and specialty food retail
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Legal
Privilege, client files, and trust-account safeguards
1 in 4
law firms reported a breach in 2024
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ Wire-transfer fraud
▣ Privileged data theft
▣ Email account compromise
▣ Ransomware
Sub-sectors we place
AmLaw / large firms
Boutique litigation firms
Personal injury and plaintiffs’ firms
Estate planning and trust attorneys
Title and real estate closing firms
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Technology / SaaS
SOC 2 and ISO-aligned risk transfer
$4.88M
avg. cost of a SaaS breach in 2024
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ Supply-chain attacks
▣ Cloud misconfiguration
▣ Token and key theft
▣ Zero-day exploits
Sub-sectors we place
B2B SaaS platforms
Managed service providers (MSPs) and MSSPs
Fintech startups
AI and machine learning companies
Cloud hosting and infrastructure providers
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Education
FERPA-aligned coverage for student and research data
80%
of K–12 districts hit by ransomware since 2022
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ Ransomware on district networks
▣ Student PII theft
▣ Fake invoice fraud
▣ DDoS on exam platforms
Sub-sectors we place
K-12 public school districts
Private and charter schools
Colleges and universities
EdTech platforms
Tutoring, test prep, and online learning providers
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Energy / Utilities
OT and IT coverage for critical infrastructure
24/7
operational-tech monitoring requirements
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ ICS/SCADA intrusion
▣ Nation-state actors
▣ Ransomware on OT
▣ Insider threat
Sub-sectors we place
Municipal utilities (water, electric, gas)
Oil and gas operators
Pipeline and midstream companies
Renewable energy (solar, wind) developers
Electric cooperatives and rural utilities
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Manufacturing
Business interruption protection for connected plants
25%
of all ransomware attacks target manufacturing
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ Ransomware halting production
▣ IP theft
▣ ICS exploits
▣ Vendor compromise
Sub-sectors we place
Industrial and heavy equipment manufacturers
Food and beverage processing
Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers
Automotive and parts suppliers
Aerospace component manufacturers
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Construction
Protection for project files, wires, and jobsite tech
$200K+
average wire-fraud loss in construction
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ Wire-transfer diversion
▣ BEC on project payments
▣ Stolen bid data
▣ Ransomware
Sub-sectors we place
General contractors
Commercial HVAC, electrical, and plumbing subs
Civil and infrastructure contractors
Homebuilders and residential developers
Architecture and engineering (A&E) firms
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
Defense
CMMC, DFARS, and CUI-compliant risk transfer
CMMC
2.0 compliance required by 2026
Common threats we underwrite against
▣ CUI exfiltration
▣ Nation-state APTs
▣ Supply-chain compromise
▣ Cleared-personnel targeting
Sub-sectors we place
DoD prime contractors
CMMC-regulated subcontractors
Defense software and systems integrators
Aerospace and satellite contractors
Federal IT and cleared staffing firms
Typical turnaround for indication of terms: 1 business day.
The Bloc system
One foundation.
Ten industry-specific builds.
The Bloc mark is built from stackable planes — each one a different angle on the same core structure. That’s how we place coverage: one underwriting discipline, tuned and re-tuned for every industry we serve.
Coverage
A policy you can actually read.
Structured in three clean blocs.
01
First-Party
Your direct losses when an incident hits your business.
✓
Incident response & forensics
✓
Business interruption
✓ Data restoration
✓ Cyber extortion / ransomware
✓ Funds transfer fraud
✓ Reputational harm
02
Third-Party
Your liability to clients, partners, and regulators.
✓
Network security liability
✓
Privacy liability (HIPAA, GDPR, state laws)
✓ Regulatory defense & fines
✓ PCI-DSS fines and assessments
✓ Media liability
✓ Breach notification costs
03
Specialty
Advanced coverages for complex risks and contracts.
✓
Technology E&O
✓
Social engineering fraud
✓ Contingent business interruption
✓ Systems failure
✓ Bricking & hardware replacement
✓ CMMC / regulatory-specific endorsements
Typical limits placed
$1M / $1M starter
$5M / $10M mid-market
$25M+ layered towers
Custom retentions
Common Questions
Cyber Liability Insurance, Explained
What does cyber insurance cover?
Cyber insurance covers the financial losses from a data breach or cyberattack. This includes breach response, legal fees, customer notification, ransomware, business interruption, and regulatory fines, depending on your policy.
Does my business really need cyber insurance?
Yes. Any business that stores customer data, processes payments, or relies on connected systems faces cyber risk. Small and mid-sized companies are frequent targets because they often have fewer defenses.
How much does cyber insurance cost?
Cost depends on your industry, revenue, data volume, and security practices. We market your risk to multiple carriers to find strong coverage at a competitive price. Request a quote for an exact figure.
What is the difference between first-party and third-party cyber coverage?
First-party coverage pays for your own losses, like data recovery and lost income. Third-party coverage pays for claims from others harmed by a breach on your systems.
How fast can I get a quote?
Most clients receive a quote in under 24 hours after we review the details of their business and exposure.
What should I do first after a cyberattack?
Contact us right away. We help you start breach response, connect you with forensic and legal support, and guide your claim so you contain the damage quickly.
Insights
Field notes from the placement desk.
What carriers are asking right now.
Start a quote
Tell us about your business.
We’ll come back with terms.
We’ll review your stack, your contracts, and your exposure — then place the program against the right markets. Most intakes get indicative terms back within one business day.
01
Quick intake
We only ask what the carriers actually need.
02
Benchmark
Side-by-side terms from 10+ specialty cyber carriers.
03
Bind
Plain-language policy review, e-signed and in force.
