Healthcare Breaches to Know About

health care breaches
health care breaches

Healthcare providers and the healthcare service industry have been some of the biggest targets so far this year for security breaches. From websites being hacked to unsecure hard drives, the healthcare industry has much to do to protect their sensitive data and information going forward. 

Overall, according to an Identity Theft Resource Center report, the first half of 2017 had 791 data breaches that were tracked across five industries: financial, health/medical, government/military, education, and business.

The health/medical industry experienced 179 breaches which accounts for 22.6% of all U.S. data breaches. Phishing attacks were most often reported at 47.7% compared to the less prevalent malware attacks at 18.5%. California was the state that experienced the most data breaches, chalking up to 110 already in the first half of 2017. The healthcare industry stands apart when it comes to fully reporting on the number of records compromised thanks to mandatory reporting across the industry for breaches that impact 500 or more individuals.

Said Matt Cullina, CEO of CyberScout, the report's sponsor, "Cyber attacks that target businesses are continuing to rise, as hackers aim to steal the most sensitive personal data and demand payoffs in crippling ransomware attacks. All these trends point to the need for businesses to take steps to manage their risk, prepare for common data breach scenarios, and get cyber insurance protection."

Let’s look at some examples of the healthcare breaches that have happened over the recent months…

1) Anthem BlueCross BlueShield
In late July, about 18,000 Medicare members were impacted by a breach that stemmed from LaunchPoint Ventures, the organization responsible for Medicare insurance coordination services for Anthem.

2) Cleveland Medical Associates
22,000 patients affected by ransomware attack on Cleveland Medical Associates on April 21st. The computer that was compromised was both locked and encrypted and the forensic investigation team couldn’t determine if there was unauthorized access to patient data with certainty.

3) Peachtree Neurological Clinic
An outstanding 176,295 patients were impacted in Atlanta when Peachtree Neurological Clinic was hit with a ransomware attack earlier this year. The attack compromised data for 15 months.

Want to know what you can do to protect your patients and practice from a breach? Contact us at NetManageIT for a consultation and the right solutions to protect your valuable data.

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