As some of the Web's most heavily trafficked sites fell victim to denial-of-service attacks last week, at least one sector of the burgeoning e-commerce industry had reason to smile.
Firms that sell insurance against hacker attacks said their phones were ringing steadily in the days following the outages as companies concluded that their Web sites may not be as bulletproof as they once thought.
"This is causing a lot of companies to really take notice," said John Wurzler, chief executive of J.S. Wurzler Underwriting Managers, one of a handful companies offering insurance against hacker attacks. "It's going to convince a lot of the ones that were sitting on the fence to take action.
Other companies offering hacker insurance include American International Group, Cigna and J&H Marsh & McLennan.
Wurzler last week was negotiating insurance policies with at least two of the firms that were struck by denial-of-service attacks: Amazon.com and Buy.com. Both companies had not yet decided to take up the policies, and Wurzler said in light of the severity of the attacks, the insurance firm may need to rethink its pricing structure.
Hacker insurance policies typically cost from $10,000 to $25,000 per million dollars of coverage. Before granting an insurance policy, providers have prospective clients investigated with a fine-tooth comb.