Over the past year, the number of data breaches from eithermalware or hacking have risen substantially according toLondon-based Beazley, a provider of data breach responseinsurance.

"We saw a significant rise in incidents caused by hacking ormalware in the past year," said Katherine Keefe, global head ofBeazley's breach response services unit. "This was especiallynoticeable in healthcare, where the percentage of data breachescaused by hacking or malware more than doubled." Breaches in thefinancial services and higher education sectors also increased.

The unit responded to 60% more data breaches in 2015 comparedwith the previous year. The company says that 32% of all incidentsin 2015 were caused by hacking or malware, compared with only 18%in 2014.

The number of breaches involving third-party vendors tripledfrom 6% in 2014 to 18% in 2015. The loss of non-electronic physicalrecords remained the same at 16%.

The good news is that there was a slight drop in the number ofincidents involving the unintended disclosure of records througherrors such as misdirected e-mails, which went from 32% in 2014 to24% in 2015. Beazley's data breach statistics were based on 777incidents in 2014 and 1,249 in 2015.

As hackers show an increased interest in healthcare records,Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital reported a ransomware attack lastmonth that ultimately had the hospital paying a ransom of $17,000in Bitcoin, which is nearly untraceable. Ransomware attacksliterally hold an institution's information hostage until theransom is paid. Beazley projects ransomware attacks will increase670% from 2014 to 2016.

"Healthcare is a big target for hackers because of the richnessof medical records for identity theft and other crimes," explainedPaul Nikhinson, privacy breach response services manager forBeazley. "In fact, a medical record is worth over 16 times morethan a credit card record."

Related: Cyber crime: The gift that keeps ongiving

Hackers will use Trojans, ransomware and other programs toaccess information. (Photo: Thinkstock)

Healthcare is not the only sector being targeted by hackers.

Colleges and universities have reported increasing incidents of"spear phishing," where hackers send personalized, seeminglylegitimate e-mails that include harmful links or attachments.Because so many students and educators have access to campus ITsystems and use social media, schools are particularly vulnerableto hackers.

Another target of hackers is the financial services industry,which saw a slight increase in 2015, up to 27% vs. 23% in 2014.Beazley's data shows that Trojan programs were a frequent mode ofaccess.

The weakest link for most businesses and institutions continuesto be their employees. However, companies can take steps to protecttheir data including:

• Training employees on the importance of protecting personallyidentifiable information and protected health information and howto avoid phishing attacks that might be used to access thatdata.
• Creating an incident response plan and testing it to identifyvulnerabilities in the system. Plans need to be developed andpracticed ahead of time from the initial intrusion to who will benotified and how the forensic investigation will be conducted.
• Beazley recommends categorizing data risks by threat level,since over-reacting to a breach can be as harmful asunder-reacting. Different breach events will require a tailoredresponse to that threat.
• Taking a careful look at supplier contracts for any companiesthat handle or have access to your customers' data. It should beprotected by anyone with access and your company could still beliable if there is a data breach.
• Password protecting computers and mobile devices, andencrypting data on any devices including thumb-drives andlaptops.

Related: Hacked! The cost of a cyber breach, in 5different industries

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