Though the percentage of covered firms is rising, the vast majority are not protected from cyber attacks.
A tremendous 70 percent of health care companies in the United States don’t have cybersecurity insurance. This was among the results reported by FICO in a recent study commissioned by the analytics firm.
Health care is among those that could be most affected by a cyber attack such as a data breach.
The FICO report showed that 7 out of every 10 firms in the American health care industry are not protected by cybersecurity insurance. While this shows considerable negligence by health care companies with regards to data breach protection, this industry is not alone. The FICO data suggested that 24 percent of all American companies have no coverage whatsoever to protect them in the case of a cyber attack such as ransomware or a data breach.
The data from this report has arrived at a time in which data breaches have become virtually commonplace. Moreover, it seems that no company – or even government agency – feels entirely secure. Some of the largest corporations in the country have experienced hacks and leaks of information they had tried to secure.
Cybersecurity insurance covers several potential areas of loss resulting from cyber attacks.
The coverage doesn’t just cover the direct immediate losses associated with data breaches and other forms of cyber attack. Instead, it can cover expenses such as those associated with the added customer support, legal fees and even reputation recovery. Losses from this type of event can be widespread and, depending on the policy, coverage can help with the speed and efficacy of the recovery. Companies are spending millions to try to return to normal after an attack.
The health care sector has not managed to avoid the risks of cyber attacks. It operates with a spectrum of vulnerabilities which are quite well known. McAfee Labs Threats Report data from the first quarter of this year showed a 211 percent year-over-year increase in disclosed cyber security incidents within the health care industry in the United States.
The FICO data showed that even though almost one in four American companies don’t have any cybersecurity insurance at all, the figure is improving. The company’s data from the same time in 2017 showed that one in two 
companies didn’t have any coverage. Clearly, the value of these policies is getting through to businesses in the country. That said, this year, only 32 percent of the American firms that have coverage said that they were covered for all cyber risks.
