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What connects a great shake 
with a code break?

When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck at 5.12am on the morning of April 18, 1906, it set in train one of the deadliest disasters to impact the US.  

With a magnitude of 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale, the earthquake ruptured gas mains and severed water pipes – making it difficult to douse the fires that followed in the largely timber-built town. Amid widespread destruction, over 3,000 people lost their lives, 225,000 were left homeless and more than 80% of the city was destroyed.1 

In a tragic example of how natural disasters can have both cascading physical effects and devastating economic impact, the estimated property damage was over $400 million in 1906 dollars, equivalent to around $14.6bn today.2

  • Cascading disasters 

    Another example of how events can cascade is a worm that launched a thousand hackers. In 1988 at 8:30pm, November 2nd,  a hacker unleashed the Morris worm, an act widely considered as the first cyber-attack and an inspiration to those who came after. 

    Created by 23-year old student Robert Morris, the Morris Worm uncovered and exploited the vulnerabilities inherent in computer systems running a version of the Unix operating system, infecting a reported 6000 computers within 24 hours.3  

    No files were destroyed but the attack left its mark. Military and university capabilities were stopped in their tracks, emails were left unsent for days, and the total cost of the damage is estimated to have cost $10 million. 4 

    But crucially, the worm served as a wakeup call and alerted the public to a new risk – cybersecurity.

  • Building back better 

    The aftermath of both events required significant efforts to restore normality. The earthquake provoked a range of responses including stricter building codes, better urban planning and enhanced emergency response preparation. Even so, the rebuilding efforts took years. 

    The Morris Worm led to a major shift in mindset when it came to understanding the vulnerabilities of the systems we had come to rely so heavily on. Business leaders were forced to contemplate the interconnectedness of digital systems and the need for increased scrutiny of every aspect of their IT operations. 

Where do we come in? 

After the San Franciso quake Lloyd’s underwriter Cuthbert Heath famously instructed his agents to "pay all of our policyholders in full, irrespective of the terms of their policies", thus cementing Lloyd’s reputation in the US. 5 

Cybercrime has come a long way since 1988, but so have we. Insurance stepped up, building a cyber market that supports clients anticipate, respond, and recover from cyber incidents.  

Our role is to share our expertise and protect businesses so that in an era of accelerating risk, code breaks and earthquakes are ‘no great shakes’.

 

Our products

We offer a wide range of products for organizations both large and small, with a focus on the core areas of Cyber, Property and Contingency.

1 https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/casualties.php 

2 https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/casualties.php 

3 https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/morris-worm 

4 https://securityintelligence.com/articles/how-morris-worm-changed-cybersecurity/ 

5 https://www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds/history/catastophes-and-claims/san-francisco-earthquake