Cybersecurity may seem like the buzzword everyone is using these days, but if you’re not making it a priority, you’re putting your business at risk.

And when it comes to cyber security threats, protection starts with risk management. What are the critical assets of your business, what could happen if you lost them, and what are the chances that you can lose them?

Voice Products can help you answer those questions.

A cybersecurity breach is not only a stressful event but it can also take a chunk out of your company’s budget.

The cost of a data breach continues to increase. According to the Ponemon Institute’s annual research (sponsored, analyzed, and published by IBM Security), the global average total cost jumped almost 10% from 2020 to 2021, from $3.86 million to $4.24 million.

The cost is calculated by collecting information about both direct and indirect expenses, as well as opportunity costs.

• Direct cost: the expenses of a company to respond to a breach such as hiring forensic experts, providing crisis management, outsourcing hotline support, providing free credit monitoring, providing discounts for future products and services.

• Indirect cost: the amount of time, effort, and resources a company spends after a breach, including in-house investigations, communications, and possible customer loss.

• Opportunity cost: the cost of lost business opportunities because of a negative reputation after the breach. 

A cybersecurity strategy is essential for public safety agencies to avoid interruptions in services and ensure proper response to emergencies.

Cyberattacks have already hit local governments, 911 call centers, and police departments, often disrupting day-to-day operations.

A ransomware attack, for example, can shut down critical systems by encrypting files and applications until the agency pays the demanded ransom.

When attackers hit Baltimore with ransomware a few years ago they disabled the city’s 911 servers, including their computer-aided dispatch system (CAD). The result was similar to that in other attacked cities and counties – it forced dispatchers to do manual logging and reporting on paper.

Some experts say it’s only a matter of time before your agency or organization is hit. Will you be prepared?

Here are some of the steps you can take now:

• Implement basic and immediate practices to reduce your risk, such as requiring strong, unique passwords and securing them with multifactor authentication.

• Maintain the security of your current operating systems and applications by updating them regularly and patching any known vulnerabilities.

• Back up and encrypt your data and keep those backups offline so they can’t be attacked, altered, or deleted.

You also have to have a plan and make sure your employees are able to recognize an attack and know what to do.

Security breaches across the healthcare industry have had the highest cost for 11 years in a row, according to research done by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by IBM Security.

Hackers consider healthcare organizations good targets because of the large amount of data available, from Protected Health Information (PHI) to other sensitive records. They’re also taking advantage of the stress COVID-19 has put on healthcare organizations. While cybersecurity teams were stretched thin with less staff and more responsibilities, hospitals and clinics added telemedicine and other technology systems that pose more security challenges.

Research on cybersecurity attacks in healthcare has found some common characteristics:

• Ransomware attacks against healthcare organizations have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

• Phishing emails are often the point where information is compromised and an attack begins.

• The motive of most cyberattacks on healthcare organizations is financial gain. Attackers can gain by forcing you to pay a ransom in order to get back your encrypted data. They can also make money by selling compromised records to the dark web.

• The biggest impact on healthcare organizations is disruption by stopping regular business operations and sometimes disabling critical care systems

But the danger for healthcare providers goes beyond losing money. By disabling critical systems, a cyberattack could put lives at risk.

After a baby born with a severe brain injury in an Alabama hospital later died, the baby’s mother filed a lawsuit claiming the hospital was to blame because it was dealing with a ransomware attack. As the Wall Street Journal first reported, the 2021 lawsuit claims the hospital didn't tell the mother that computers were down when she arrived to deliver the baby. She says because of that she didn’t receive proper care, such as tests that would have shown the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck.

Don’t leave cybersecurity up to chance. 
Voice Products can help you build a process that identifies your critical systems, monitors for suspicious activity, and keeps you resilient and able to respond in the event of an attack.