Lloyd's of London Chief Executive Officer Inga Beale expects themarket for cyber insurance to surge after hackers attacked some ofthe largest companies in the U.S., including JPMorgan Chase &Co. and Home Depot Inc.

Beale, who took over as CEO of the world's oldest insurancemarket in January, said many businesses are not yet alert to therisks of an attack on their computer systems or the need to buycoverage. She said cyber insurance can cover loss of future revenueand reputational damage, as well as provide assistance to getsystems back up and running.

“Cyber is a new risk and it is a concern,” Beale, 51, said in aninterview with Bloomberg Television's Guy Johnson in London.“Lloyd's is at the heart of cyber attacks, providing coverage rightnow. It's going to grow dramatically with all the high-profilehacking incidents.”

JPMorgan last week outlined the scope of a previously discloseddata breach, revealing that 76 million households and 7 millionsmall businesses had been affected in one of the largestcyber-attacks on record. A month earlier, Home Depot confirmed asecurity breach had compromised 56 million payment cards.

Marsh & McLennan Cos. estimates that the U.S. cyberinsurance market could double this year to $2 billion in grosswritten premiums from an estimated $1 billion in 2013. In Europe,the market is estimated to be less than $150 million, rising by 50percent to 100 percent annually, according to Marsh.

Beale's comments echo that of Tom Ridge, the first U.S. homelandsecurity chief under President George W. Bush, whose new insurancecompany has teamed up with five syndicates at Lloyd's includingBrit Plc and Aegis London. He said earlier this week that the“extraordinary” breaches at JPMorgan and Home Depot highlighted theincreasing sophistication of the attacks.

Bloomberg News

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