Technology Breeds A New Crime

The Internet has changed our lives, transforming tasks such as research and shopping from cumbersome, time-consuming chores to completion with the click of a button.

Our technological age has also produced a new breed of criminals. "Bonnie and Clyde are now armed with mousepads instead of guns," said Candysse Miller, executive director of the Insurance Information Network of California. "While a mousepad can't kill you, it can kill your business."

In 1998, more than half of all businesses reported computer intrusion, losses to American corporations amounted to more than $200 billion. This new age graffiti has spawned a new type of insurance that can protect businesses against high-tech thieves.

While most business insurance policies exclude damage caused by cyber crimes, anti-hacker policies cover losses such as theft of securities or tangible property via computer, damage to data or software and business interruption expenses. Companies are generally required to undergo a computer security assessment to determine their amount of risk before obtaining insurance. A business with average risks that purchases $12 million worth of coverage would pay approximately $25,000 a year.

IINC offers the following suggestions to help businesses combat cyber crime:

• Assess information assets and vulnerabilities and identify potential enemies.
  
• Establish company policies about who has access to what information and publish them in the employee handbook.
  
• Change employee passwords periodically.
  
• Install an intrusion detection system on your computer.
  
• If an attack occurs, call in a computer forensics investigator, they could find "electronic fingerprints".
  

The damage caused by the breach of security by a single hacker can be in the millions of dollars. While anti-hacker insurance can pick up the tab for those losses, the most valuable effect is that it forces companies to become more involved in protecting their computer systems.