Extract from Doug Austin’s article “Hackers Will Not Only Take Your Money, They Could Also Take Your Patients’ Lives”
Go to just about any news site today and there is probably a new story about a data breach that costs a company millions of dollars.
Just in the past few weeks, we’ve seen Colonial Pipeline pay as much as $5 million in response to one ransomware attack (during which gas shortages caused long lines at the pumps) and meatpacker JBS USA paying a ransom equivalent to $11 million to another group of hackers in that case. And that’s just one category of data breach affecting organizations today.
Failing to protect data from threats – internal as well as external – can also potentially cost companies millions in fines and litigation judgments and settlements.
Healthcare organizations are also at risk – perhaps more than other types of organizations – as the data they track is even more sensitive. Not only that, the stakes are much higher – not just monetary, but potentially life threatening.
