To mark the arrival of Cyber Week 2022, All Med Pro spoke to Cyber Insurance expert, Matthew Norris from Beazley Group to ask him what precautions dental practices should take to protect themselves from cyberattacks, plus common misconceptions debunked.
What is Cyber Liability Insurance exactly?
Matthew: I would call it a cyber insurance product, as, at its best, it can be a combination of both services and insurance. The insurance is a mixture of covers, such as loss of revenue, data recovery and liability. Services can include investigating what happened and notifying the people that have been affected. This can be the most valuable part of the product and cover.
Are there different levels of Cyber Liability Insurance?
Matthew: Cyber insurance products can be broadly split into three categories:
- Just insurance and no services
- Insurance and non-insurer-provided services
- Insurance with insurer in-house expertise and services
In my opinion, the third option provides a key level of cover. By choosing this cover you can have confidence that if there is a widespread issue affecting many companies the insurer’s in-house expertise has a clear priority of the insureds and no other competing priorities.
In broad terms, what does Cyber Liability Insurance cover?
Matthew:
- Services to investigate, manage and recover from a cyber incident
- Services to notify patients who have been affected by a data breach
- Liability insurance to respond to any liabilities that arise because of a cyber incident
- Loss of your revenue due to a cyber-attack or system outage
- Data recovery costs
Can you tell us why it is important for dental practices to have Cyber Liability Insurance?
Matthew: Due to the high amount of sensitive data that dental practices hold; they are often targeted by cybercriminals. If you are attacked, cybercriminals will most likely steal your patient information. Investigation into the cyber-attack can easily cost in excess of £50k.
With respect to the stolen data, it is imperative that records are evaluated to check what information has been stolen and who has been affected by the attack. This cover can be included and, in our opinion, is a vital cover as costs can easily reach £50-£200k.
What percentage of dentists, or dental professionals, do you see who do not hold Cyber Liability Insurance? What are the risks they are taking on by declining this cover?
Matthew: It is difficult to put a figure on this. What we do know is, the health sector is one of the largest industries that purchase Cyber Liability Insurance through us. There are many risks to dental practices, including ransomware. Paying ransom to cybercriminals can be extremely costly, but with our knowledge and expertise, we can help you reduce that amount by up to 90%.
Are dental practices a target for cybercriminals? What is it they are looking to steal?
Matthew: Yes, dental practices are a clear target due to the high-level sensitive data they hold. Cybercriminals may try to extort a ransom demand and may even steal personal information at the same time. In some circumstances, a staff member may receive what they think is a legitimate invoice and proceed to settle it in good faith, however, it may later emerge that it was an illegitimate phishing email sent by a cybercriminal. These types of emails can be very convincing and appear to come from someone the recipient knows, such as a colleague or third-party service.
We are often told by clients that they outsource Cyber Security and Cloud Services to third-party providers. And it is assumed that the 3rd parties would be largely liable in the event of a data breach/cyber-attack. Would it be fair to say that this isn’t the case?
Matthew: These third-party providers can provide many valuable services however not many people realise that cyber-attacks aren’t purely technology-led. Many incidents involve human error and phishing emails can sometimes be difficult to spot and it’s extremely difficult to eliminate phishing emails altogether.
Third-party providers are high-risk and are seen by cybercriminals as an easy way to gain access to your network. These providers are targeted simply due to the volume and quality of the data that they hold.
And finally, how important is having Cyber Liability Insurance in a world that is centred around technology?
Matthew: A good way to look at this is to ask yourself the following questions:
- if your network suddenly went down, what implications would that have for your business, and would these implications be lessened if you had the expertise to help you recover quicker?
- Would you be worried about your reputation if your customers’ personal information was stolen?
- If you were unfortunate enough to suffer a loss following a successful cyber-attack, how important would it be to rebuild trust with patients and prevent future attacks from occurring?
Your next steps towards Cyber security
Don’t turn a blind eye and assume a Cyber-attack won’t happen to your practice. The risk is very real. Speak to All Med Pro today at 0203 757 6950 for the best price & to find out more about our current offers. Alternatively, drop us an email at info@allmed.co.uk.
