Cybersecurity: How to Keep Your Lab Safe

It was like something out of an episode of 24: Jim Thacker, CFO, Utah Valley Dental Lab (UVDL), walked into the Provo, UT, lab one Monday morning last October and found nearly every computer locked with a chilling message on the screen: “All of your data is encrypted. Your files are safe and will be returned to you after you pay us ransom.” 

Fortuitously, UVDL had recently purchased a cyber insurance policy from CFC Underwriting, a U.K. company that specializes in cyber incident response, recovery and liability. CFC’s team took over as soon as Thacker discovered the attack. It negotiated with the hackers, covered the ransom fee and helped—with the assistance of the lab’s IT company—get the company back up and running in a week and a half.

“It was certainly the most mentally challenging crisis we’ve faced, like the stress of nine months of the pandemic crammed into eight days. All financial and case data was encrypted,...