Economist Bob Hartwig once predicted that cyber insurance would grow to $2.5 billion in sales by 2002. Industry officials doubt that actual sales have topped $100 million yet. Companies are not racing to buy insurance against computer hackers, despite the latest computer worm that brought chaos to servers across the United States, Asia and Europe, rendering some systems useless. Insurance professionals argue that the continuing risk to corporations is real and should not be ignored. “How many times does your house burn down before you buy some insurance for it?” said Aaron Latto, e-commerce underwriting director for the St. Paul Companies Inc. “After the worm hit, I only got a couple of e-mails from agents asking, ‘Hey, did you hear about the virus?’ or ‘Can you tell me more about this virus?’ But no specific inquiries like ‘I need to get my policyholders on these cyber policies!’ It’s kind of strange.” The Love Bug, Melissa, Code Red and other globe-hopping computer vermin have cost companies more than $54 billion in down time, repairs and removal expenses since 1995, according to Computer Economics Inc. of California. Full Story
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