Xactware, a claims software and service pro- vider for theinsurance repair industry, is looking to bridge the gap betweenunderwriting and claims with the introduction of HomesitePro, anonline valuation tool for homes. Bear River Mutual Insurance, aSalt Lake City property/casualty insurer, has been using an earlierversion of the HomesitePro product and has tested the newestversion, according to Bear River property supervisor DonEdmunds.

He believes the added functionality will be a valuable additionfor insurers. This will help make sure the home is insured to theproper value when the original policy is purchased, he says. Agentsselling Bear River homeowners policies will do a HomesiteProvaluation on every policy, and the valuation will be stored so thatfuture modifications of the structure can be added.

Xactware believes a huge number of homes in America areunderinsuredmaybe by as much as 75 percent. Its software andpricing data are used to settle structural claims, so it was onlynatural the same engine be used to create component-basedvaluations for underwriting. Using the same engine for bothunderwriting and claims was the next step in the technicalevolution of the product.

It just makes sense the company whose pricing is used for claimsalso provides upfront valuation tools for the underwriting market,says Brad Jackman, executive vice president of Xactware. Manycompanies have wanted to better match their underwriting data withthe claims industry data for years. Now they can because its thesame data.

Edmunds says making a property insured to value is a big issuefor insurers. There are guaranteed replacement costs policies, andthe properties are not necessarily insured to value, he says. Theyneed to be insured to value for the customer so we can collect theproper premium on the proper value of the home.

HomesitePro creates valuations by gathering a few pieces ofinformation about the home from an agent or homeowner. It thenbuilds a virtual model of the home behind the scenes, using smartassumptions built into the program. The result is a component-basedcalculation that individually outlines rooms in the home anddetermines what materials and labor are needed to build each room.Instead of applying overall statistical factors, the programmatches the current pricing for drywall, lumber, doors, etc., tothe amount of material needed for each room and likewise for labor.Users can drill down to any level of detail they desire to changequalities, adjust component assumptions, or simply add moreinformation.

Product: Sapiens eMerge
Company: Sapiens International Corp.
Web site: www.sapiens.com

Sapiens is expanding its eMerge policy ad-ministration system bybroadening it from commercial lines to personal lines acrossmultiple states and by Web-enabling the system. OneBeacon InsuranceGroup, a Massachusetts-based subsidiary of the White MountainsInsurance Group offering personal, commercial, and specialty lines,recently signed a contract to implement the improved solution.

Arne Herenstein, vice president application development servicesfor OneBeacon, says eMerge is a very powerful tool for an insurancecompany. It is going to make our statistical people and ourunderwriters happy.

The solution provides in-surers with easier access toinformation through the use of personalized portals for thecarriers independent agents. The open architecture allows OneBeaconto expand its market presence, enhance customer service, andstreamline the business process, thus reducing costs. OneBeaconalso will be able to respond to rate and product opportunities morequickly, according to Herenstein.

Sapiens past support of our IT needs gives us great confidenceto move our legacy systems into a new open architecture to betterserve independent agents and policyholders, says Mike Natan,OneBeacon CIO. The policy administration solution quickly willprovide us with real business advantages in an increasinglydemanding and cost-conscious marketplace.

The eMerge solution was originally built for commercial lines,and that will remain the foundation for the expansion into personallines. The solution utilizes IBMs WebSphere and the eMergerules-based technology. Its ability to operate on a variety ofplatforms is one of the key requirements, according to Herenstein.Being Web-enabled, business development can be pushed back to thebusiness side of OneBeacon instead of the IT department. It is muchfaster, he says. It gives us the ability to do productconfiguration, and it gives us a much better view into thedata.

Sapiens lists several benefits to eMerge, including fast time tomarket with a rules-based business system that eliminatesprocedural code. A central repository contains all applicationdefinitions, and any application element defined in the repositoryneed only be changed once for all of its appearances in theapplication to be updated automatically.

eMerge has an enterprise-scale transaction engine capable ofrunning heavy-duty transaction loads and supporting thousands ofsimultaneous users. Applications developed on one platform may bedeployed on another without changes. It also features a globallyoriented, multilingual deployment within one application, and acomplete separation of data, logic, and presentation layers of anapplication, providing scalability and flexibility to thedeveloper. The system has the support of Java, COM/COM+, and XMLinteroperability. It also has full integration of back-officelegacy applications to the Web.

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Product: Subrosource
Company: Trumbull Services, LLC
Web site: www.trumbull-services.com

Trumbull Services, LLC, has released a new version ofSubrosource, its subrogation software formerly known as Matador.Trumbull is the Windsor, Conn.-based provider of outsourcing andtechnology services to the property/casualty insurance industry.The new version of Subrosource is Web-enabled, increasingproductivity and functionality for its users. Workflow, strategies,and data can be accessed through a suite of account managementtools to provide a total solution to the claims subrogationprocess. The product is being offered on an ASP basis, as a fasterand more convenient service. Stephen Holcomb, president ofTrumbull, believes Subrosource will assist P&C insurers inloss-recovery efforts. Subrogation is an area that has asignificant financial impact on a companys results, he says. But ithas been largely untapped from a technology perspective.

Product: SurveyWriter.com
Company: SurveyWriter
Web site: www.surveywriter.com

Insurance carriers looking for market feedback from potential orexisting customers can turn to an online tool that allows them tomeasure customer attitudes and opinions regarding products andservices. Survey-Writer.com allows insurers to create aquestionnaire that allows the carrier to retain control of the lookand feel of the survey. The survey is linked to the carriers Website, and results are tabulated automatically withpresentation-ready charts. There are no upfront costs, andSurveyWriter charges $1.25 per completed survey. Joel Friedman, CEOof SurveyWriter, says insurers are using the system to gaugecustomer satisfaction on claims. It can be used to measureattitudes of a market segment to individual companies or agents, hesays.

Product: CertificatesNow
Company: ConfirmNet Corp.
Web site: www.confirmnet.com

The online insurance certificate service offered by ConfirmNetincludes a new user interface in its latest release, Version 6.0 ofthe CertificatesNow product. Added features include a new homepagewith icons rather than text instructions to move to commonly usedfeatures, a progress bar showing all the steps included in the taskwhile highlighting the current step, simplified account management,and reduced steps and screens necessary to delivercertificates.

ConfirmNet has a suite of Web-based services for those managingcertificates of insurance. In addition to CertificatesNow, it alsooffers Carrier Reporting, which allows carriers to audit andmeasure risks by accessing certificates that reference theirorganization.

Product: DataFlux
Company: DataFlux Corp.
Web site: www.dataflux.com

DataFlux Corp. has announced the release of Version 5.0 of itsdata-quality and data-integration tools known as dfPower Studio,Blue Fusion SDK, and dfIntelliServer. (Blue Fusion CS is the formername for dfIntelliServer.) The company re-engineered its productset to give users a completely integrated offering of products toenhance integration of any type of data. Among the functionsenhanced by the new version are customer relationship management,supply chain management, business intelligence, data mining, anddata warehousing.

Features of the new version include automatic languagerecognition, intuitive GUI for business-rules editing andcustomization, and the ability to handle international data in asingle pass. Intelligent data integration is all about providing asingle, accurate, consolidated view of an organizations data, saysTony Fisher, president and CEO of DataFlux.

Special Report: Security in the Age ofCyberterrorism
by Ara C. Trembly

Security Woes Go from Bad to Worse

While insurers work on adopting data security measures mandatedby federal legislation, the threat of security breaches isincreasing at an alarming rate, a panel of experts warned theaudience at Fall Comdex 2002, the annual technology exposition forthe computer industry. Just how bad is it? Its pretty bad, saidAndrew L. Briney, editor-in-chief of Information Security magazineand moderator of the panel discussion. Briney cited figures showingsecurity vulnerabilities have risen by 124 percent over the pasttwo years. Actual virus infections increased by 15 percent from2000 to 2001, while some 200 new viruses are seen each month, headded.

He pointed out the Melissa Virus in four days caused some $400million in corporate losses worldwide, and in just five hours, theLove Letter Virus racked up losses between $8 billion and $15billion. The Code Red Virus, meanwhile, brought down some 520,000servers and caused $2.6 billion in losses, he said.

Gene Hodges, president of Network Associates Inc., based inSanta Clara, Calif., believes three things one can be sure of aredeath, taxes, and escalating attack rates. He also noted there hasbeen a strong trend toward targeted cyber attacks that demand ahigher skill level.

One problem the panelists pointed to in defending againstoutside attacks is the high number of security patches softwaremanufacturers send to their customers. According to Bruce Schneier,founder and chief technology officer of Counterpane Systems, basedin Minneapolis, there are 20 to 30 security patches per majorproduct per week. Most companies dont have the time and resourcesto keep up with installing the patches, and some patches requiresystem shutdowns. The notion we can find stuff and fix it hasfailed, said Schneier. We need to move to the philosophy that wewill never make our networks safe. As a scientist, I can tell youwe have no clue how to write secure code.

He added all software bugs that be-come security vulnerabilitiesare mistakes. The reason software isnt secure is because thecompanies producing it dont care, Schneier asserted, elicitingspirited applause from the audience. Microsoft and other softwareproducers, he explained, are judged by the speed of productreleases, he added. If Firestone produces a tire with a systematicflaw, they get sued. When Microsoft [produces a flawed product],they dont.

Every software vendor here could do a better job of protection,Hodges agreed.

Best Bet: Minimize Risk

The challenge is the attacks are more and more sophisticated.The best you can do is try to minimize your risk, according to JohnWeinschenk, vice president of the Enterprise Services Group forVeriSign Inc. in Mountain View, Calif. He recommended companiesformulate specific risk-management plans to deal with the possibleconsequences of cyber attacks. Briney also pointed out securityconcerns are the number-one barrier to the deployment of wireless[technologies].

The threat is serious, agreed Dan MacDonald, vice president ofInternet communications for Nokia in Tokyo. Corporations, he said,need to be aware wireless networks could be dangerous to theircorporations. The solution, he said, is strong authentication andencryption. That is best practice these days, he observed. Schneiercharacterized wireless communications as being robustly insecure.He added, The people who designed the [wireless] protocol did ahorrible job on security.

Rogue Risk

The panel pointed to a widespread trend of individuals bringingtheir own wireless devices to work and linking into their corporatenetworks. Among such rogue wireless users (those whose links arenot set up by the companys IT department), most are vulnerable toattack, the panelists agreed.

Briney also noted 48 percent of European companies in hisresearch have said security worries keep them from adopting Webservices. Schneier, however, disagreed such worries will slow Webservices growth. The key to Web services is making a profit, heexplained. Web services will be deployed with not-good security,with half-[hearted] security. If you can make more money than youlose, youll do it. Security is a nice thing to have, but when youremaking money, get that thing out of the way.

When it comes to spending on security, Weinschenk said regulatedmarkets (such as insurance and financial services) are spendingmoney on it, because they have to. Briney noted IT spending devotedto security is showing a 21 percent compound annual growth rateamong all companies, but Schneier argued, The average companyspends more on coffee than on security.

New Security Technology Products Abound

While news of real or perceived cyberterrorism threats continuesto fill the media, technology vendors have been scrambling tomarket new products designed to help companies reduce or neutralizethreats to their businesses.

The insurance and financial services industries in particulardeal with huge volumes of sensitive data, including personal healthand financial information. Data protection standards mandated byfederal legislation, along with consumer cries for privacy andsecurity, have made this a hot issue in the technology arena.

The productsincluding firewalls, intrusion detection software,and hardware deviceswere introduced at Comdex.

Westinghouse Electric Company (a business unit of BritishNuclear Fuels), announced the release of version 3.05 of itsStatePointPlus software suite. According to Monroeville, Pa.-basedWestinghouse, the software provides organizations with a workable,scalable, and continuous protective strategy for pinpointing andrectifying unauthorized alterations in systems and data across theenterprisebefore, during, and after security breaches.

Westinghouse said the technology also detects and eradicatessneaky threats, such as Trojan horses and worms.

StatePointPlus delivers control over network and securitysystems, said Westinghouse. It reduces operational costs andmitigates business risks, while providing security at no additionalcost.

From a central console, systems administrators and securityadministrators can remotely control the attributes of everysoftware object in every computer on a network, the company stated.The software continuously diagnoses systems and enforces baselineparameters set by the administrators. By managing computers at thislevel, IT organizations can cut support costs and production losseswhile simultaneously speeding change to strategically neededtechnologies, Westinghouse added.

StatePointPlus 3.05 is currently available for Microsoft Windows2000, NT, and XP environments. The new version also makes thesecapabilities available for the first time to users on Solarisoperating systems, the company said.

Pricing information was not provided. Further details areavailable at www. StatePointPlus.com.

Zone Labs, Inc., announced a major upgrade to Zone LabsIntegrity, software designed to protect PCs and data in networkedenvironments.

Integrity 2.0 hardens organizations defenses against hackers,Trojan horses, and targeted attacks with its centrally managedfeatures, including firewall and application controls, said SanFrancisco-based Zone Labs. The system integrates transparently withnetwork infrastructure to deliver policy management, enforcement,and monitoring, the company added.

Endpoint security is a mainstream issue for todays enterprise;facing a landscape of evolving risk, customers understand eachvulnerable PC and the important data it contains must be secured,said Frederick Feldman, vice president of marketing for ZoneLabs.

Zone Labs said Integrity 2.0 provides proactive protection fromtargeted attacks and network infiltration. It also guards againstthese risks whether one accesses the network from a remote locationvia a virtual private network or from inside the corporatefirewall. Integrity 2.0 makes it easier for administrators todesign and enforce consistent security policies, the companyadded.

In addition to preventing Trojan horses, spyware, and othermalicious programs from stealing data, Integrity 2.0 adds componentcontrol to ensure only authorized and authenticated applicationcomponents can load, the company continued.

Pricing for Integrity 2.0 varies depending on volume purchasedand configuration, said Zone Labs. Fees begins at $65 for anend-user license, with an Integrity server license included. TheIntegrity server supports Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 AdvancedServer systems, while Integrity clients run on Windows 95, 98,2000, NT, and XP machines.

Further information is available at www.zonelabs.com.

iolo technologies, LLC, showed its System Shield utility, whichhelps prevent identity theft, security attacks, corporateespionage, and malicious extraction of private files.

According to Pasadena, Calif.-based iolo, identity theft isbecoming the worlds fastest-growing crime, affecting an estimated500,000 to 700,000 people annually. The FBI also is investigatingan increasing number of cases of corporate espionage in whichhackers and disgruntled employees have obtained and soldconfidential company data and trade secrets, resulting in the lossof millions of dollars, the company said.

System Shield works on all Windows operating systems (95, 98,ME, NT4, 2000, and XP) and with all types of hard drives andWindows formats, said iolo. The software comes in both Personal andProfessional editions.

The Personal Edition acts as a shield against any software-basedattacks, the company explained. It purges the names of deletedfiles from directory structures and overwrites deleted filecontents. Users can automatically schedule unattended data cleanupoperations.

The Professional Edition contains all the features of thePersonal Edition plus additional functions. These includeprotection from forensic hardware-based recovery and custom datawiping signatures. It is fully compliant with U.S., German, and allother published government-level secure data disposalspecifications, said iolo.

A single-user license for System Shield Personal Edition ispriced at $39.95, while the Professional Edition is $129.95, thecompany noted. Volume pricing is available. A 30-day evaluationcopy of System Shield can be found at http://www.iolo.com/ss.

Intego Inc., makers of firewalls for Mac users, announced it isentering the Windows market with Intego NetBarrier 2003, a robustcollection of firewall, anti-vandal, privacy, and monitoring toolsdesigned to protect PC users from Internet threats.

According to Miami, Fla.-based Intego, NetBarrier 2003 combinesa set of anti-hacker safeguards with both predefined security rulesfor mainstream users and the ability to customize rules for powerusers and network administrators. Other features include Web siteand keyword-based filtering to prevent users from accessing orexporting selected content, and incoming-call blocking formodems.

NetBarrier 2003 operates with Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP,said Intego. It can be downloaded from www.intego.com, or purchasedat major computer chain outlets at an MSRP of $49.95.

Griffin Technologies, LLC, announced SecuriKey Personal Edition,which controls access to laptop or desktop PCs.

Designed for use in portable computing environments, the newproduct combines a key-like token with software security technologyto ensure professional- strength protection against unwanted PCuse, said Lawrence, Kan.-based Griffin.

Even if a laptop is stolen, the computers important data remainssafeguarded against unauthorized use, the company explained. Avariety of access options and security protocols are available forSecuriKey, including two-factor (token and password) userauthentication. The product also enables partial access withoutuser authentication where this is needed.

SecuriKeys USB token attaches to any key ring and plugs into acomputers USB port, the company noted. Each kit includes twotokens.

Utilizing SecuriKey Personal Edition, users can safeguardsensitive, valuable, or proprietary information such as personalfinancial data, said Griffin. Users also can restrict access tofiles and folders, the Internet, or specific applications, whileallowing the rest of the PC to be used normally.

MSRP for SecuriKey Personal Edition is $149, the company said.More information is available at www.securikey.com.

Access Denied Systems also unveiled a combination of a key-likeUSB device and security softwarethe CyberKey Security System.

The product uses a USB memory device manufactured by CyberKeyand software from Access Denied to control access to PCs andcomputer networks using the Windows 2000 or XP operating systems,said St. Louis-based Access Denied.

When users insert the CyberKey device into a computers USB port,the system checks to see whether or not the inserted key isauthorized for use in that computer, the company explained. Inmulti-user, multi-workstation environments, the system allowsauthorization of unlimited users for a workstation, or a user canbe authorized for an unlimited number of workstations.

The CyberKey Security System is available with encrypted memoryranging from 16MB to 2GB. Users can install software and storefiles on the device when it is attached to the computer. When theuser removes the device from the USB port, the computer screen isblanked out and both the mouse and keyboard are locked, said AccessDenied.

Pricing information was not provided. Further details areavailable at www. accessdeniedsystems.com.

SentryBay Corporation introduced ViraLock, which it said is thefirst software to prevent the spread of computer viruses viae-mail.

According to Newport Beach, Calif.-based SentryBay, the newproduct takes the approach of trapping viruses instead of trying toidentify and block them. ViraLock encrypts e-mail addresses inMicrosoft Outlook and Outlook Express. As a result, invadingviruses cannot find and use e-mail addresses to send themselvesout, said SentryBay.

The company added ViraLock stops mass-mailing viruses such asKlez and Bugbear, as well as new, unidentified viruses.

The software is compatible with and complementary to majorantivirus software productsand does not require regular updating tobe effective, the company noted. Anyone who has ever been hit by amass-mailing virus has experienced the embarrassment, cost, anddamage to reputation from passing a virus to business contacts,family, and friends, added Marcus Whittington, vice president ofmarketing for SentryBay. Also at risk is the potential spreading ofconfidential information with the virus.

The product works with Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP, thecompany said.

ViraLock is priced at $19.95 for a single-user license, withdiscounts available for volume orders, said SentryBay. It can bepurchased and downloaded at www.viralock.com. A free 30-day trialversion can also be downloaded from the site.