Paybacks for dot-com hacks

The insurance is aimed to target ecommerce websites that rely on their bricks and mortar insurance to cover them against cybercrime.

John Wurlzer, managing director of the Wurlzer Group, cited as illustration of the escalating hacker threat an FBI survey which found that 25 per cent of US companies had their sites hacked last year

Wurlzer said: "I take this figure with a pinch of salt, but UK companies, like the US, simply aren't covered for non-physical losses. Another survey showed us that 10 per cent of companies believe they won't get attacked by hackers this year, when hacking is set to quintuple this year."

The insurance premium will cost from around £1.5K for a small business up to £100K per year for a large company said Peter Sibson, European Business Development Director for e-initiative, dependent on the security measures that were in place such as security policies and firewalls.

Graham Fisher, an analyst at Bloor Research, agreed that the insurance is a good idea in principle, but said it will be interesting to see what happens when it comes to the crunch of paying up.

He said: "The downside from the customer point of view is that the sites where security is underwritten may act like a red rag to the hackers out there. Making a claim about insurance like this may make a site more of a target."

silicon.com today launched a campaign to fight online fraud. For further information, visit: http://www.silicon.com/a43887