New figures reveal big increase in hacking and malware data attacks

The insurer's data reveals that the use of ransomware is particularly acute and shows signs of increasing by 250% in 2016. The findings were revealed in the Beazley Breach Insights 2016 report. It is based on 2,000 data breaches handled by the Beazley Breach Response (BBR) Services unit over the past two years. The BBR responded to 60% more data breaches in 2015 compared to 2014, with a concentration of incidents in the healthcare, financial services and higher education sectors. The Beazley Breach Insights 2016 report reveals that cases involving hacking or malware nearly doubled over the past year. Hacking or malware caused 32% of all breach incidents in 2015, up from 18% in 2014.hideBeazley's data finds that hackers are increasingly employing ransomware to lock up data and keep it under wraps until a ransom is paid in nearly untraceable Bitcoin. Breaches involving ransomware among Beazley clients more than doubled to 43 in 2015. The trend appears to be accelerating in 2016. Based on figures for the first two months of this year, Beazley said ransomware attacks are set to increase by 250% in 2016. "We saw a significant rise in incidents caused by hacking or malware in the past year," said Katherine Keefe, global head of BBR Services. "This was especially noticeable in healthcare, where the percentage of data breaches caused by hacking or malware more than doubled." Hacking or malware was the leading cause of data breaches in the healthcare industry last year. It accounted for 27% of all breaches, higher than physical loss of data at 20%. According to Paul Nikhinson, privacy breach response services manager for BBR Services: "Healthcare is a big target for hackers because of the richness of medical records for identity theft and other crimes. In fact, a medical record is worth over 16 times more than a credit card record." Higher education has also experienced an increase in data breaches due to hacking or malware. Such attacks accounted for 35% of incidents in the sector last year, up from 26% in 2014, according to Beazley's figures. Colleges and universities report increased "spear phishing" incidents. These see hackers send personalised, legitimate-looking emails with harmful links or attachments. "The relatively open nature of campus IT systems, widespread use of social media by students and a lack of the restrictive controls common in many corporate settings make higher education institutions particularly vulnerable to data breaches," said Beazley. Hacking or malware attacks accounted for 27% of the financial services industry's breaches in 2015, versus 23% in 2014. Across all industries and sectors, the Beazley Breach Insights 2016 shows that the proportion of breaches involving third party vendors more than tripled over the last two years. They accounted for 18% of breaches in 2015 compared to 6% of breaches in 2014. The report also finds that unintended disclosure of records-such as a misdirected email-accounted for 24% of all breaches in 2015, down from 32% in 2014. The loss of non-electronic physical records accounted for 16% of all breaches in 2015-unchanged from 2014. Beazley's data breach statistics are based on 777 incidents in 2014 and 1,249 in 2015. Beazley outlined five key steps for organisations to take to protect their data. Firstly, they should train employees to be aware of the information they need to protect and avoid falling for phishing attacks and other forms of social engineering. Organisations are also advised to develop a robust incident response plan. "Data breaches cannot be well handled on the fly. Advance planning can help avert serious reputational or financial harm. A well thought out and practiced incident response plan should guide management through the life cycle of a breach-from the initial suspicion that something is amiss to full-blown forensic analysis, legal advice, customer communications and PR assistance," said Beazley. The insurer also advocated categorising potential data risks by threat level. Over-reacting to a breach can be as damaging as under-reacting, said Beazley. The firm said organisations should review supplier contracts carefully to ensure that their customers' data is well protected when in the hands of suppliers or vendors. Finally, it advised encrypting data, particularly on mobile devices, laptops and thumb drives that are most likely to be lost.

New figures reveal big increase in hacking and malware data attacks

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