Ransomware attacks continued their rise in the first six months of 2017, with Lloyd’s of London insurer Beazley reporting that its clients reported an increase of more than 50% in incidents over the first half of 2016.
In its Beazley Breach Insights report for H1 of 2017, the group says that hacking and malware attacks–of which ransomware attacks form a growing part–continue to be the leading cause of breaches, accounting for 32% of the 1,330 incidents that Beazley Breach Response Services helped clients handle over the six-month period, GTNews reported.
However, accidental breaches caused by employee error or data breached while controlled by third party suppliers continue to be a major problem, accounting for 30% of breaches overall, only slightly behind the level of hacking and malware attacks. In the healthcare sector accidental breaches represent, by a significant margin, the most common cause of loss at 42% of incidents.
“This continuing high level of accidental data breaches suggests that organizations are still failing to put in place the robust measures needed to safeguard client data and confidentiality,” the insurer comments.
“Since 2014, the number of accidental breaches reported to our team has shown no sign of diminishing. As more stringent regulatory environments become the norm, this failure to act puts organizations at greater risk of regulatory sanctions and financial penalties.”
In June, the BBR Services team worked closely with the insurer’s clients to provide legal and forensics services in response to the international NotPetya ransomware attacks. “The ability to respond quickly to ransomware attacks is especially critical for healthcare organizations due to the (US) Office for Civil Rights treating all ransomware attacks as a presumed breach.
