The Wall Street Journal reports on the increased reliance by manufacturers on computerized and digital systems and the resulting information security issues they face. Abbot Laboratories, most recently, faced scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its response to reports that its defibrillators and pacemakers could be hacked. "For years cyber insurance was overwhelmingly purchased by consumer-facing business — retailers, financial-service providers and hospitals," the report states. "Mostly this was to protect against consumer data theft." Manufacturers paid $36.9 million in premiums for insurance policies that were cyber-specific, an increase of 89 percent from the prior year, according to insurance consulting firm Advisen. "There's certainly an increased exposure in the industry overall, especially with more reliance on cloud providers, greater sophistication of hackers globally and increased consumer interactions through social media," said Kimberly-Clark's Daniel Steiner. (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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