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Managing Cyber Risks in Medical Practices

By Kevin Quinley
July 02, 2017

In an ad for a major commercial insurer, a gloved figure in a hooded sweatshirt sits before an office computer keyboard, mask pulled over his face. The photo caption reads, “When a cyber attack puts your name in the headlines, the last thing you should be worrying about is whether your insurer has less than stellar coverage.”

We often associate cyber-risks with financial institutions, like banks, insurance companies and credit card firms, but while the financial sector certainly does deal with cyber-risks, it is by no means the only industry facing such woes. Health care providers are also vulnerable to cyber-liability risks. In fact, according to Tom Kellerman, chief executive of Strategy Cyber Ventures, “The most exploitable industry in the world is the health care sector,” and it doesn't help, he says, that the health care industry is chronically hobbled by regulation and by inadequate investment in computer security. Washington Post, 5/13/17, “Ransomware Attacks Cripple Tens of Thousands of Systems,” p. A11.

Health care professionals' cyber-risks are not just hypothetical. Witness the May 12, 2017, ransomware attacks that crippled thousands of computer systems, many in the health care sector. In the United Kingdom, hospitals were forced to cancel medical procedures and reduce emergency room services. Patients scheduled for surgery were told that procedures were canceled due to a cyber attack. Physicians used pen and paper as Britain's National Health Service worked to get computers back online. And the May 12 incident is not a one-off: Among other incidents, in 2016, Los Angeles' Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center was forced to pay $17,000 to unlock files after hackers disabled part of its computer systems.

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