Cyber Liability Insurance

What is Cyber Liability Insurance?

Cyber Liability insurance (also known as cyber insurance) is an insurance policy that provides medical organizations and professionals with a combination of coverage options to help protect them from data breaches and other cyber security threats including ransomware attacks.

Unfortunately most healthcare organizations will suffer a cyber breach of some kind and without insurance coverage these attacks can be devastating and can even result in a bankruptcy without insurance. Most organizations and medical professionals keep patient records either on the cloud or on a network which is connected to the internet. A cyber attack can lead to those medical records being locked up or even leaked, resulting in litigation by the patient.

Cyber protection is more than just being insured. Organizations must be proactive in preventing cyber attacks, so Westwood help to arrange tools and resources to manage and mitigate cyber risk for cyber insurance policyholders.

What does cyber liability cover?

Cyber liability insurance will typically cover costs associated with cyber attacks and data breaches on your business. This can include lost income resulting from a cyber attack, costs associated with contacting customers who were affected by a breach to notify them, the costs associated with recovering compromised data, repairing damaged computer systems and even the costs of resolving a ransomware attack.

Cyber liability coverage can protect medical facilities and professionals against the devastating financial consequences of a cyber attack. The leading cyber insurance providers offer customized insurance solutions depending on the level of risk your organization faces.

Coverage options are available for:

• Business interruption,
• Cyber extortion, and
• Betterment.

Every medical facility should be prepared for some kind of cyber attack – from a simple hack to something more serious, like a ransomware attack.

Who needs cyber liability insurance?

Anybody who is operating a medical facility or works independently as a medical professional should be covered with cyber liability insurance. Cyber attacks are on the increase and many result in expensive ransomware payments.

The costs associated with a single cyber-attack can be catastrophic. There are the financial costs of potential litigation, the expenses of regulatory defense and the costs associated with mandated notification requirements. Then there is also the time effort and expense involved in defending your company’s reputation. This is all on top of the need to hire computer forensics experts to determine the extent of a breach and determine any private customer information that may have been compromised.

Aged care facilities are particularly vulnerable, including: adult day care centers, assisted living facilities, residential care centers, skilled nursing facilities, nursing care centers, and continuing care retirement communities. This is because patient records are vital to ensure the correct medication and care is applied to each particular patient. Even other service providers for the elderly and disabled should absolutely be covered by cyber liability insurance.

All medical facilities have records that are vulnerable to cyber attacks, including physical therapy clinics, medical spas, diagnostic imaging and X-Ray centers and hospitals.  Centers providing alternative medicine, like massage centers including Swedish massage may also be vulnerable to cyber attacks. Even facilities who do not care for patients, like HMP medical supply centers can benefit from having a Cyber liability policy in place.