From phishing attacks to funds transfer fraud, Cyber attacks are becoming more frequent, and more sophisticated.
Is your practice sufficiently protected?
In 2014, the average cost of a Cyber attack for small and medium sized businesses was in the region of £65,000 to £115,000, according to a government survey. This, together with the statistic that 60% of small and 81% of large companies have being targeted, highlights the extent that this illegal industry has become – and that it will only continue to grow.
If you also consider that only 7% of businesses in 2016 had Cyber insurance, that leaves a lot of business unprotected from this type of attack.
What is a Cyber attack?
Cyber breaches come in many forms. For example, attacks through phishing emails and social engineering take advantage of employee vulnerabilities, as well as exploiting flaws within IT systems.
In the UK, online threats often include network interruption, system failure, ransom demands and data breaches.
Hackers are becoming more cunning in their approach too. Think of recent ransomware attacks like WannaCry, or WannaCrypt, which took down NHS systems, as well as companies and individuals around the world, for several days.
The monetary and operational costs to the global economy were extensive.
There are also hundreds of less well known attacks on a daily basis, which cause as much disruption for their victims, who often don’t have the resources to resolve the issue quickly.
In terms of tangible loss, organisations suffer fines imposed by regulators, which could be significant when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in May 2018.
Other losses come from:
- business disruption
- loss of customers if they can’t contact you
- loss of data and important files
- ransom payments
- reputation damage from bad PR, for not adequately protecting your customer data
What is the solution?
Protecting yourself against Cyber crime is not only important these days, but essential.
Whilst Cyber insurance can not prevent the attack, it can help you mitigate the financial burden of a security breach.
With such large amounts of money, regulatory obligations and the risk of a ruined reputation, it’s hard to understand why so many businesses are not protecting themselves sufficiently from Cyber crime.
There is not always a one policy fits all. Understanding your business is important in finding a policy that will sufficiently protect you from the risks you are exposed to.
As specialist providers we understand how medical and dental practices operate and your vulnerabilities.
To get the right Cyber insurance protection, the key things for your broker to help you understand include:
Where your Cyber risk lies:
- The potential Cyber threats
- Potential outcomes from a breach
- Your current Cyber protection, if any
- What measures you could implement to mitigate your Cyber risks
- How much data you hold
- Where your data is held
- Agreements in place with third party vendors
All Med Pro will work with you to understand the risks related to your practice, in order to find a Cyber insurance policy that works for you.
Your next steps
As professionals you will want to protect your practice from the risk of Cyber crime with a comprehensive insurance policy.
With it being a relatively new insurance option, choose a broker that understands your businesses’ needs and can provide a policy to fully protect you.