Mitigate the Cyber Risks for Care Businesses Using Cloud Based Services

Cyber attacks on cloud-based services

With more care teams working from home it is more critical than ever before to ensure you have the correct and adequate IT protection in place. Criminal activity is varied and can have a massive impact on your business and to your clients and customers.

Many businesses assume that they have transferred their liabilities and risk when their data is in a cloud provider hands. This may not be the case and you may not be able to rely on any protection in terms of liability with your cloud providers

In a recent webinar we hosted, a question was raised to mitigate the need for some cyber protections and consequence of an attack due to cloud based services being purchased. Provided that you have systems, policies and procedures in place to keep data secure, using the cloud as a backup option is suitable and provides benefits to re-instate data and potentially defeat ransomware demands, which are increasing.

Cyber guide for care businesses PDF

Mitigating cyber attacks risk for cloud-based data

Certain things that you may need to consider when using a cloud-based service include:

Who has the access and authority to modify backups?
How secure are your backups, could a ransomware attack overwrite previous backups, ensure your Cloud provider keeps multiple versions of backed up data?
What support will your cloud provider provide in the event of an attack?
Will your cloud provider accept responsibility for attacks via their systems?
Do you have client or other service providers software on your systems, is this clear to your cloud provider and are there any additional terms or restriction from a third-party perspective
Does your cloud provider have multi-factor authentication to protect backups?

Such steps should assist to mitigate the risk of ransomware and other cyber-attacks. It is essential that you manage data as securely and as closely as you would if this was stored on your own systems. There are also information commissioner and GDPR issues around data that is sensitive or personal that is then made public, this is still your risk and liability.

Cyber insurance and GDPR breach cover

Cyber insurance can help protect your business against a range of cyber threats and exposures, including cybercrime, data breaches and system interruption.

Top activity areas for cyber-criminal include:

Ransomware
Phishing
Data leakage
Hacking
Insider threat

Cover can now be purchased as part of a cyber protection policy to protect against attacks on customer data that cause you to breach GDPR.

Cyber insurance for care businesses from Towergate

Towergate Insurance are partners with Care England, NCF, Homecare Association and a number of regional associations and are actively engaging with insurers and our clients to obtain cyber protection for businesses of all sizes, to protect against the very real and growing threats of the digital age. We can offer cyber insurance for care businesses to help protect you should the worst happen.

Get a cyber liability insurance quote online or email caredivision@towergate.co.uk. We can also advise on market updates.

About the author

Carolyn Baker Mellor Care Insurance Articles Author Carolyn Baker-Mellor is a respected industry leader with over 35 years' experience within the care insurance sector. She works across a wide spectrum of insurance product and policy development, delivery and optimisation for care industry clients, including managing global corporate accounts, working closely with trade associations, and helping clients in protecting their businesses and personal assets.