Marsh offers insurance coverage for cyberspace risks
By Foster Wong
STORY: FOLLOWING the recent hacker attacks on popular Internet portal Yahoo! and online auction site eBay, local companies have been alerted to the risk of conducting business in cyberspace.
However, experts say there is no 100 per cent immunity from such attacks.
``Until now, companies have had no way of adequately protecting themselves against the risks of Internet business,' said Anthony Yuen, head of business of Marsh (Hong Kong), a subsidiary of US-based insurance company Marsh & McLennan.
The firm said companies usually overlooked assessmemt and management of e-commerce risk.
``Added to the immediate threat posed by hackers, many companies with e-business activities are also finding themselves open to network disruptions, the introduction of computer viruses and the theft of intellectual property,' Mr Yuen said.
The company has lauched a Net Secure insurance program designed for companies doing e-commerce.
``We are targeting Internet plays,' said Iain Finch, client manger of the company. Clients under the Net Secure program can cover themselves for up to US$200 million (HK$1.56 billion).
Mr Yuen said the company sold its first Net Secure policy in Hong Kong in February. Net Secure policies were first sold in in the United States last year. No claims have yet been made. The firm has teamed up with strategic partners such as IBM and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to evaluate the risk and Internet assets of a company. Besides hacking, the insurance program also covers content and software code infringement, spread of a computer virus, programming errors, information theft, destruction, disclosure of electronic data and other risks.
Meanwhile, Barry Lee, Asia-Pacific global communications services manager of Dutch technology service company ORIGIN, said an insurance policy may protect a company from suffering losses from cyber threats, but a company should always regard such risks as a vital part of its business security.
``No matter how many security measures are implemented and no matter how much money a company spends, there will always be weaknesses that hackers and unwanted intruders will be able to exploit. It all boils down to how much risk a company wants to take and how much it is prepared to spend,' Mr Lee said, adding that firewalls, encryption tools, public and private keys and anti-virus software were effective only if they were part of a fully-integrated security strategy |
