Consumers seek security and identity theft insurance services

But some companies are taking consumer cyber-protection a step further, offering home-security audits and checking whether computer systems are hack-proof. The pitch is that individuals with investments and sensitive data they access on home and mobile systems may be more vulnerable than they think.

According to Avivah Litan, a security analyst at Gartner Research, these services could prove more valuable than identity-theft insurance, which does little to prevent fraud from actually occurring. She says people with several million dollars in investible assets should consider what safeguards their banks and brokerages have in place and weigh the cost of extra protection against potential losses.

Individuals who keep most of their money in bank checking or savings accounts and use credit cards generally are at less risk, Gartner’s analyst says, because banks and credit-card issuers typically offer protection against liability for fraud. People with investment accounts should ask advisers and brokerages whether they offer written guarantees that clients will be made whole after a breach. Just 15% of broker-dealers and 9% of advisers have such written policies, a Securities and Exchange Commission survey found.