Ransomware has featured prominently in the news over the last few years. In fact right here in Central New York, local municipalities have battled this problem. Hospitals, law enforcement agencies and even individuals have been affected by it. In some cases, ransom was actually paid and the entity went on to recover their computer data; others have lost their data forever.
What is ransomware and why are these attacks on the rise? How can you best protect your organization from it and why is a Cyber Risk Management Program critical.
There are three main types of data breach causes:
- Benevolent insiders
- External Targeted attacks
- Malicious insiders
When researching Cyber Liability Coverage, you should look for coverage that protects against both first and third-party costs such as:
First Party Cost
- Forensic investigation of the breach.
- Legal advice to determine your notification and regulatory obligations.
- Notification costs of communicating the breach and other remediation expenses.
- Offering credit monitoring to customers as a result.
- Public relations / crisis management expenses.
- Loss of profits and extra expense during the time that your network is down (business interruption).
- Extortion expenses.
- Computer program and electronic data restoration expenses.
- Computer Fraud.
- Funds transfer fraud.
- Telecommunications Theft.
Third-party costs can include:
- Legal defense.
- Settlements, damages and judgments related to the breach.
- Liability to banks for re-issuing credit cards.
- Cost of responding to regulatory inquiries.
- Regulatory fines and penalties (including Payment Card Industry fines).
Strong security policies coupled with a solid Cyber Risk Management Program can protect your City, Village, Town or County from the nightmare of an attack. Contact Hank Chapman at hchapman@haylor.com for more information on how to propertly protect your Municipality.
