A business’s cyber insurance policy included ransom coverage, but when they needed it, the insurer refused to pay. Why?

Allardyce Bower Consulting (ABC) paid more than $14,000 for a cyber insurance policy with Coalition that covered ransomware attacks up to five million Canadian dollars. The intrusion reportedly began in late August 2025, with the encryption of servers on 7 September, followed by the online release of a large volume of sensitive data. The policy was technically activated when ABC notified Coalition of the attack, yet it was never fully implemented—most notably, the ransom demand was not paid.

It remains unclear whether Coalition declined to cover related expenses such as legal or consulting support, but several indicators suggest a prudential stance by the insurer. The policy includes a Duty to Cooperate, and the article notes that ABC stored a copy of its policy on its server, which allegedly violated those conditions; SuspectFile has suggested this may have affected the insurer’s handling of the claim, with the question of why Coalition declined to pay remaining unanswered. According to SuspectFile.