Cyberattacks on the rise as healthcare and medical industry face a flood of covid19 cases!

Medical Practices and Healthcare Organizations Need to be Protected from Cyber Attack!

• Telehealth providers have experienced over 30% of targeted cybersecurity attacks this year as pandemic hovered over our nation in 2020.  

• Over 70% of healthcare organizations have globally experienced cyber threats and attacks this year alone. 

• 24% of US healthcare employees never received cybersecurity training with over 40% of the workforce unaware of the security measures in place at their organizations, according to HeathITSecurity.

As daily operations, healthcare organizations and physicians collect, store, and transfer large amounts of electronic information. When there is a security breach, patient personal information and medical records, and other private information are exposed that are on your system. Telehealth is an essential part of medical and healthcare practice and it has increased the digital footprint and attack surface. Privacy liability plays a huge role in cyber insurance coverage.

Bad actors may potentially exfiltrate after a ransomware attack and could cause financial turmoil.  

Notification costs can be daunting when a medical practice or healthcare organization loses sensitive data from a data breach. It is a legal duty to inform patients and customers, as they have a right to know if their personal information has been exposed and available on the dark web. Also, typically these data breaches cause data privacy liability claims and losses. It is critical to protect assets when technology causes harm as general liability or professional liability will not cover these lawsuits.  

Healthcare email fraud attacks have increased 473% in 2 years according to HIPAA Journal.

PCI fines, penalties & cybercrime coverage is critical in rescuing medical practices and healthcare companies when facing data breach. The expense of re-issuing credit or debit cards, fraudulent charges, and fines from regulatory bodies in failing to protect sensitive data can be costly! Cybercrime is an exponentially growing threat to the industry. Phishing, telephone hacking, cyber threats, extortion, or unauthorized fund transfer attacks are targeted toward the healthcare industry due to having healthcare records and proves to be lucrative earnings for the hackers. Transferring these unexpected costs and having cyber insurance can be life-saving for the medical industry.

HealthITSecurity.com states that the hacking groups lockout the healthcare entities on the dark web for sale to force the organizations into paying their ransom demands!

Business interruption can cause a massive probability of lost profit when technology and system perform daily procedures and operations to serve patients and stay organized and upkeep of the data. When systems are interrupted, the business is paused and it may take a while for the medical and healthcare system to be back up and running. Medical practices and healthcare facilities need to ensure that this imperative coverage is a part of their business insurance thru a comprehensive cyber policy.  

A database containing personal information of the patients can be exposed online without needing a password or other authorization, according to security researcher Bob Diachenko.

A physician or healthcare organization failing to protect patients’ confidential health and personal information not only leads to the loss of current clients but also causes them to lose future patients. Telehealthcare is the biggest cybersecurity risk for physicians, medical practice, and healthcare organizations. It is imperative to transfer the financial risk that may arise from cyberattacks to the system, network, and operations. Be smart in having cybersecurity insurance solutions in the event of a security breach.  

Why do physicians, medical practices, and healthcare organizations need cybersecurity insurance along with cybersecurity culture?

Comprehensive cyber insurance for medical practices and healthcare organizations plays a huge role in covering the cost for legal advice, forensic investigation, notification costs, ID theft/monitoring services, regulatory fines & penalties along with liability claims and losses resulting from the data breach or cyber-attack! It has to be an on-going effort for the industry to keep focusing on keeping cybersecurity postured buttoned up and constantly work to improve and maintain endpoints from being vulnerable to cyber threats. As the industry faces claims arising from cyber perils, protect your practice from financial ruin at the hands of hackers with proven cybersecurity strategies & solutions.