The development,hundreds of years ago,of ship and cargo insurance was revolutionary.It marked the start of commercial insurance;protection against loss from fire and the perils of the high seas fostered global trade.But in the 21st century the value of companies consists less of solid objects,such as boats and buildings,than of intangible elements,such as intellectual property,data and reputation."Today the most valuable assets are more likely to be stored in the cloud than in a warehouse,"says Inga Beale,chief executive of Lloyd"s of London.As the importance of intangibles has grown,so has companies"need to protect themselves against"intangible risks"of two types:damage to intangible assets（eg,reputational harm caused by a tweet or computer hack）;or posed by them（say,physical damage or theft resulting from a cyberattack）.Companies are not oblivious.Respondents to a survey last year by Aon,an insurance broker,ranked reputation as their top risk and cyber-risk as their fifth.But there is a big difference between how risk managers perceive such risks and how boards do.And if firms do seek insurance against some of these risks,insurers have not exactly been giving them too many novel products.Even when policies are labelled"innovative"it"s usually to insure physical assets in the sharing economy rather than intangibles.But in a world where Airbnb,in effect the world"s largest hotel chain,owns no hotels and Uber,its largest taxi firm,owns no cabs,such policies are of limited use.Those that do protect assets such as data,IP and reputation are often expensive and custom-made,and include strict exclusions and lrmits.Insurers"caution is understandable.Intangible risks are not only new and comple）c"They"re a bit like not-yet-set jelly,"says Julia Graham of Airmic."Their shape constantly changes."Underwriters like to look at past data on events"frequency as well as clients"current exposure-which may be next to impossible when assessing the risk and impact of a cyberattack,or a scandal,which would have been very differently priced even a couple of years ago.But some underwriters are starting to come up with more suitable policies.One is parametric cover,which pays a fixed amount automatically after a defined event,such as a hack.The advantage of such policies is that they can provide cash quickly,meeting an immediate need after misfortune strikes.The downside is that these products tend to cover only a share of damages.Companies also have to do more to protect themselves.Just as insurance was only part of the answer to fire and maritime risk,it is only part of the answer to modern perils.Plenty of cyber-breaches could doubtless have been avoided if software had simply been kept up to date.Insurers need to catch up with the intangible age;but so do their clients. Insurers"caution is in a large part due to