From terror to technology. (Briefing).

Highlights of the Nov. 28 PricewaterhouseCoopers insurance conference in New York.

* Auto, Homeowners Hit Hard, Too: While much of the attention after the terror attacks has been on commercial lines losses, New York State Insurance Department Superintendent Gregory Serio pointed out that personal lines were hard hit as well.

"This is a $100 million-plus auto event by itself," Serio said. It's also a major event for homeowners, illustrated by the destruction of apartments in Battery Park as an example.

* Internet Illusions: Despite high hopes for the internet as a major sales channel, so far insurers are getting no nibbles online, said Galen R. Barnes of Nationwide Insurance.

Steven L. Groot of Allstate, an insurer that has invested heavily in e-commerce, agreed: "We get 1 million hits a month...but nobody is buying insurance on the Internet. Not from us, not from them, not from anyone."

* Concentrating on Risk: Insurers may want to return to the old practice of tracking their risks with glue-on markers and a paper map, said William D. Smith, president and chief operating officer of Kemper Insurance Cos.

In places like Los Angeles, where a single earthquake can be devastating, insurers are accustomed to focusing on concentration of risk. But with the average workers' compensation death benefit at $500,000, insurers that cover many lives in the same area can be hit hard by a disaster like the World Trade Center collapse, Smith said.