Re: Lloyds to offer hacker insurance

From: Joseph S. D. Yao (jsdyat_private)
Date: Tue Apr 28 1998 - 08:42:17 PDT

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    > Adam Shostack wrote:
    > >I'm very curious as to what people think of the idea of insurance for
    > >infosec failures.  Will it encourage standards of due dilligence and
    > >due care for the industry, the way bank insurance has driven bank
    > >safes to be stronger and stronger?
    > 
    > I'm sure that it will, so it's a good thing. ...
    
    Being aware of how the insurance industry's insidious coils have
    affected other fields, I'm not so sure.  In the medical field, you can
    see how on the one hand insurance causes doctors to do CYA testing that
    might not normally be necessary, and on the other hand [managed care]
    to not do things that would be beneficial but less profitable.  In many
    other fields, and even in the Red Cross, many ideas are submitted to
    and killed by "Risk Management", which is another name for "can we do
    this without the insurance guys getting a gleam in their eyes" - or, in
    some cases, it IS the insurance guys saying "how can we make sure we
    never have to pay out."
    
    Sorry, Marcus.  While I will admit the obvious benefits of a fair and
    impartial insurance system, any more insurance companies are just
    forcing people to do things in such a way that they (the insurance
    companies) are all profit and no [or little] loss.
    
    Not to mention - sort of an opposite gripe - in some cases insurance is
    compelling or impelling people to do silly things, just because "the
    insurance covers it."  Which is probably why the insurance companies
    decided to try to take that kind of control ...
    
    --
    Joe Yao				jsdyat_private - Joseph S. D. Yao
    COSPO Computer Support						EMT-A/B
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