Companies have scrambled to find ways to cope with sudden barrages of page requests, minimizing the damage of a DoS attack. And most companies have found ways to filter e-mail that might have viruses attached. But solving the last problem does not prevent the next one. They live and breathe to break through the best firewalls and defeat the most elaborate security measures. Hackers carry on no matter how vigorously officials prosecute.
Effective deterrence seems less likely than water on the moon.
Lloyd's insurance rationale seems oblivious to the fact that Web sites are no longer just a single function of a business. In many cases, the Web site is the business. When a company's network crashes, lost sales are just the tip of the iceberg. Vendors and partners are shut out. Employees tasked with analyzing sales data or gauging the success of an advertising campaign are left idling in their chairs, waiting for the network to return.