Discover hidden terror risk concentrations and manage exposure effectively
Global terrorism remains an important risk for the insurance and reinsurance industry, particularly given heightened geopolitical sensitivities. Terror risk is unpredictable: attacks are rare but potentially catastrophic, target selection is difficult to anticipate, and weapon capabilities continue to advance. Improved risk and capital management requires understanding historical losses and what they could mean given today's threats and exposures. Sophisticated modeling can uncover accumulated risks and prevent unexpected capital demands when attacks occur.
Generate multifaceted policy and portfolio loss estimates across terror risk scenarios
Explore the impacts of catastrophic events without historical precedent, including conventional bombs; chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons; and airplane crashes. Verisk Terrorism Models enable comprehensive terror risk assessment across multiple attack types, geographies, and analytical approaches.
Run three types of analyses with one flexible model
Evaluate terror risk deterministically for specific scenarios, probabilistically for the full range of potential outcomes, and geospatially for accumulations—from individual accounts to the entire enterprise and portfolio.
Manage terror risk exposures anywhere in the world
Run ring analysis with user-defined damage ratios, capture building-specific vulnerabilities, or leverage terrorism risk maps from Verisk Maplecroft to assess geopolitical risk factors. Our modeled loss estimates adapt to regional construction practices, security measures, and threat environments.
Test international deterministic loss scenarios for terror risk planning
Select known locations in the U.S. or 27 other countries, choose targets from Verisk's database of high-profile properties and critical infrastructure, and specify weapon types to customize "what-if" scenarios. Model a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) striking a landmark building, assess CBRN weapon effects on urban centers, or evaluate airplane crash scenarios at properties near airports.
Consider the impact of blast intensity and damage on terror risk losses
Estimate damage and losses based on size, location, and intensity of conventional bombs within a built environment. Our damage models account for how blast waves propagate through urban canyons, how building construction types respond, and how property characteristics influence severity. See how vulnerabilities of identical properties vary based on surrounding building density, street configurations, and construction characteristics.
Features and capabilities
Our models integrate with Verisk Maplecroft's terrorism risk intelligence and feature comprehensive weapon libraries covering various sizes of conventional explosives and CBRN weapons spanning multiple materials, plus crash scenarios for a range of aircraft types. Advanced terror risk analytics include building-specific vulnerabilities, business interruptions capturing physical damage downtime and civil authority restrictions, and aggregation tools to flag portfolio concentrations. Forward-looking threat assessments complement historical loss analysis to help anticipate emerging terror risk.
Supported geographic resolution
The modeling framework simulates damage at a fine and realistic resolution: latitude/longitude at 1km for the entire United States, plus finer ZIP Code resolution for 15 metropolitan areas.
U.S. landmark database
This data set includes prominent buildings, headquarters of Fortune 500 companies, transportation hubs, sports venues, government buildings, and many medical and educational institutions, plus 100 “trophy” targets with high risk exposure.
500,000-year stochastic catalog
A catalog this large helps reduce uncertainty in the variability of losses.
Dozens of supported construction types
The models support 45 construction classes, 110 occupancy classes, and five urban density classes.
Broad support for policy conditions
The models support policy conditions like franchise deductibles, coverage limits, loss triggers, and risk-specific reinsurance.
Lines of business supported
Residential, commercial/industrial property, mobile home, automobile, and workers’ compensation lines of business are supported.
Detailed loss results
Loss calculation framework and cellular damage aggregation approach permit detailed loss results for a specific floor of interest.
Related resources
Explore our research on terrorism trends, geopolitical risk factors affecting terror risk, and regulatory developments in terrorism insurance markets. See how leading insurers use our models for underwriting, portfolio optimization, and capital management.
Documentation
Extreme Event Solutions Client Portal
Access client-confidential downloads, training, and documentation for Verisk's extreme event solutions model, software, and service offerings.
Brochure
Everything You Need to Know About PCS
This methodology paper includes information on the PCS Global Terror model and its expected future approaches to the impact of terrorism on the reinsurance market.
Article
Verisk updates terrorism model for US
Learn how our models will help reinsurers estimate the potential property, business interruption, workers’ compensation, and personal injury losses that can arise from acts of terrorism in the US from conventional bomb blasts.
Press release
Verisk’s AIR Updates Its Terrorism Model to More Comprehensively Model Damage from Conventional Bomb Blast Attacks
Resources
About Catastrophe Modeling
For rare but severe events, historical loss information is often unreliable in assessing future loss potential. That’s where catastrophe modeling comes in.
General trainings
Certified Extreme Event Modeler (CEEM) Training
Gain insight into the science behind natural catastrophes and a behind-the-scenes look at how catastrophe models are developed and validated.
Research
Research publications from Extreme Event Solutions
Verisk Extreme Event Models are developed by experts who are constantly innovating and driving discovery. Learn more about their groundbreaking work.
Do more with the Verisk ecosystem
Our sophisticated modeling tools and data are increasingly important to helping companies evaluate and manage terror risk. Integrate Terrorism Models with our SRCC (strikes, riots, and civil commotion) model for comprehensive political violence coverage, add exposure management platforms to monitor accumulations, and leverage our geopolitical risk intelligence services to understand how evolving threats may affect your portfolio's terror risk profile over time.
Verisk Synergy Studio
Verisk Synergy Studio is a powerful, flexible, and scalable catastrophe modeling and risk management platform, coming in 2026.
The most up-to-date terroristic activity index
This tool combines the frequency and intensity of five years of attacks with an assessment of the threat posed by active terrorist groups, and whether counterterrorism forces in the country have the capacity to deal with this risk.
The enterprise risk modeling platform
Understand your estimated exposure to loss from extreme events today—and in the future.
Contact us to learn more
Telephone support is available at the following offices, please call your local provider at one of the listed numbers below:
Support numbers:
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