As technology makes the world increasingly interconnected, cyber liability is one of the biggest emerging commercial risks.Leaks of credit card information, hackers who vandalise websites for fun, lost laptops and multiplying malware - all are computer-associated potential nightmares that could strike almost any business.Last Friday, XL Insurance (Bermuda) Ltd hosted a cyber liability symposium, believed to have been the first event of its kind on the Island.Some 60 brokers attended, keen to learn more about this complex and constantly evolving field.Scott Schleicher, assistant vice-president, technology products, XL Select Professional, flew in from the company’s offices in Exton Pennsylvania to speak at the event.Mr Schleicher said as technology developed and allowed the release of new products, the law had failed to keep pace, creating much uncertainty.“I think this will become a standard insurance product in many businesses’ insurance policies,” Mr Schleicher said.“One in three might buy a cyber risk policy now, but in a couple of years it could be one in two. If you don’t have it, you risk your firm’s assets.”This case was an example of how cyber risk extended far beyond a one-off financial loss, Mr Schleicher said.“There is also the chance of business interruption loss and reputational loss,” he said. “Customers don’t want to give their credit card numbers a second time to a company who didn’t look after it the first time.“Having insurance would help to pay for the public relations and marketing and better security for the network to try to regain the trust of the people you lost.”One of the examples raised during the symposium was that of TJX Group , owners of a chain of discount stores in the US and Canada. Four years ago, hackers broke into the organisations computer systems and accessed millions of credit card numbers.Such stories help to awaken companies to the realisation of the emerging risks they face and drive the demand that leads to insurance innovation, according to Matthew Irvine, senior vice-president, professional liability at XLIB.“Typically what drives it is the headline cases, where people read about companies losing tens of millions of dollars,” he said. “That really gets their attention.”Mr Schleicher said that if he wanted to understand the cyber risk of an organisation, exploring their website was improtant.“If I’m going to underwrite a risk, I need to understand it,” Mr Schleicher said.“That’s does not mean understanding the nuts and bolts of how the technology works, but knowing what it does and what kind of risks that presents.”Particular risks include data breaches, like the one at TJX Group, or extortion threats, perhaps from a disgruntled former employee threatening to publish sensitive data.Intangible assets can also be stolen. Last month, for example, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) was frozen after computer hackers stole two million certificates worth millions of euros from the registries of five countries.XL offers cyber liability coverage and has underwriters on the ground in the US, Europe and Asia, as well as Bermuda.XLIB’s James Loder, senior vice-president, chief underwriting officer, professional liability, said the rapid pace of technological change showed no signs of slowing down.A sign of the times was Google’s purchase of a 3 million sq ft office building in New York - the city where the company’s first office was a Starbucks coffee shop just a decade earlier.“The Internet has dramatically changed the way we live and work and that rate of acceleration of change will go up in exponential terms during our lifetime,” he said.