The Market for Cyber-Insurance Is Growing
But computer risks are harder to handle than physical ones
It sounds as if it was named by a seven-year-old boy and looks like a film set. Housed in a sleek black truck, IBM’s “X-Force Command Cyber Tactical Operations Centre” travels from city to city, simulating the experience of falling victim to a cyber-attack. Rows of desks sport monitors and keyboards in a room dominated by three giant video-screens. A control room houses server equipment that allows IBM’s staff to simulate a corporate network — and then throw all manner of digital mischief at it. Teenagers “understand what’s going on straight away”, says Caleb Barlow, who runs the show. Board members at big companies enjoy a visit, too: “It’s so different from what they usually do.”
But their interest is not merely recreational. Companies are increasingly worried about the threats lurking in their computer systems. A survey in 2018 by KPMG and Harvey Nash, a firm of headhunters, found that only a fifth of IT bosses thought their firm was well prepared for an attack.
That gloomy assessment is borne out by high-profile hacks. In November Starwood, a hotel chain owned by Marriott International, reported that half a billion customer records had been stolen. Magecart, a hacker group, is the chief suspect in the theft of the…
