If there’s a conclusive takeaway for 2020, it’s draw-dropping statistics about cybercrime. Cyberattacks were worth mentioning in the history books! From cybercriminals who impersonated the World Health Organization to distribute fake COVID-19 e-books, the spread of invasive cyber-viruses, the phishing campaign against Twitter, the encryption of Garmin’s systems, to sensitive data released about Uber’s employees, among others, cybercrime increased 80% according to INFOSEC.

Cyberattacks can often cause financial chaos for victim companies. When the American Medical Collection Agency’s records were hacked, releasing social security numbers, financial data, and sensitive medical information, the parent company of the agency filed bankruptcy.  It continues to be the target of numerous lawsuits, even against its partners, like Quest Diagnostics, which had over 12 million records compromised. Patients even reported that their data was used for illegal profit by unknown individuals.

Hackers’ eagerness and skills to obtain information cannot be underestimated. They successfully infiltrated the United Nations networks in Geneva and Vienna in 2019 and put many governments at risk. For example, that same year, the mayor of New Orleans declared a state of emergency in response to ransomware and phishing attacks. Furthermore, Lake City in Florida paid $500,000 to a hacker in order to regain access to its phone and email systems after the city’s network, email systems, and phones were locked for two weeks. And lest not forget 2014, when a northeast U.S cyberattack caused a blackout resulting in 11 deaths and an estimated $6 billion in economic damages.

According to the Check Point Research Report on 2020 and the HIPAA Journal, attacks targeting healthcare organizations spike globally as COVID-19 cases rise. According to the Cyber Security Annual Report by Check Point Research, cyberattacks will continue to increase in 2021 threatening all types of organizations. For LUNA Language Services, the fight against cyber threats is a top priority.

LUNA implements multidimensional cybersecurity measures to systems, networks, and programs to keep the integrity, confidentiality, and security of our client’s and employees’ data. The company has access controls, encryption, secure wireless access points, and networks, as well as software and hardware firewalls at the core of our process. LUNA collects the minimum data necessary to provide language services and has a strict privacy and security usage, transmission, and disposal policy for the data.  The company only works with vendors and contractors who are trained on HIPAA compliance, adhere to data privacy standards, and provide adequate technical safeguards and physical safeguards for data processing.

Cybersecurity is a central part of our culture. LUNA provides language services under the strictest legal standards to ensure privacy and data protection for its customers and employees: Affordable Care Act, Section 1557 (ACA); Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH), Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI); Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); Protected Health Information (PHI) and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR), among others.

At LUNA, we understand that the fight against cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility and take that responsibility seriously. LUNA employees are trained to recognize, avoid, and report cybersecurity threats, data breaches, identify quality non-conformities, and take corrective actions. Clients have peace of mind knowing LUNA proactively secures our clients’ data and ours. A cybersecurity culture allows LUNA to operate in today’s digital world, to face disruption safely, and to strengthen customer confidence.

To learn more about our language services, visit our webpages on Interpreting Services and Translation Services.

About the Author: Leonela Sauve is LUNA’s Law & Policy Associate. She’s an international lawyer born and raised in Venezuela. Leonela has been with LUNA for two years and continues to bring a great perspective on language access.