Cyber insurance insufficient to cover entire hack losses

Few kind of cyber breach is approximately guaranteed to hit every health system in the country, and possible effects could involve stolen patient data, disrupted operations, and destruction of technology, stolen consumer data or exposure of corporate secrets, trade secrets and proprietary data.

That is why healthcare contributors require powerful policies and processes in place when attacks happen. Cyber insurance can assist to cushion the blow, but it is not protection that can remove all the negative impacts of a breach, claimed a lawyer who specializes in this place at last week’s HIMSS16 annual conference.

Cyber attacks are frequent because they are very cheap. You can hire someone for $2 an hour to acquire entry through a website, such as a patient portal, stated Brian Finch of Washington-based law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

When working on the solutions, contributors and hospitals require realizing they will not prevent entire cyber-attacks, but should take precautions for when the attacks are victorious.

Therefore, it is significant to have executive accountability because cyber security impacts patient privacy and shareholder value. “It is general to write a representation of warranty on other IT companies,” he elaborated.

Many healthcare agencies are making primary investments in cyber security tools, but that is only managed in a piecemeal fashion and reactive after a breach appears, Finch claimed. Rather, providers “require looking at this with a holistic opinion.”

The queries to ask when considering about threat assessment is what does it mean for reaction period and what controls does a health network have, he noted.

Cyber insurance is another way to respond to risks, but Finch claimed is not the final solution. “Everyone in this room who drives has auto insurance,” he claimed to attendees. “But you cannot drive around at the time of night with no lights, no speed limit and weaving. You follow protective practices because you know it is your duty and need to protect yourself and do not need your rates to go up.”

With cyber insurance most contributors assume they are doing the right thing, but that is not how it works, Finch claimed. “They are there to compensate you if you lose, and they might not always reimburse you,” he discussed. “The market is fairly minor. $4 billion to $5 billion in entire cyber insurance present globally contrasted with $1 trillion in property insurance.”

“Consider about that with $100 billion to $200 billion in yearly loses in intellectual property alone on an annual basis because of cyber,” he added.