Data Breach Worries In The Healthcare Sector Are Far From Over

People who have been following the string of data breaches affecting the healthcare industry as of late will know new solutions have to be created. With an estimated US$6.2bn in losses, there is no better time than now to start looking beyond the scope of traditional security possibilities.

Healthcare Data Breaches Are Mounting

A quite worrying trend is going on in the healthcare sector, as 90% of all organisations have been the victim of a data breach in the past two years. To make matters even worse, the average “cost” of these hacks is US$2.2m, which quickly adds up to staggering amounts when taking all of the information into account.

Several attack vectors are causing these breaches, ranging from ransomware to lacklustre database protection and insider mistakes.  Coming up with adequate cyber security measures is a costly manner, and with healthcare budgets remaining the same – or declining – it is very difficult to come up with solutions.

If that wasn’t concerning enough, nearly eight in ten healthcare organisations have fallen victim to multiple data breaches in the past 24 months. In fact, close to half of them have been breached five times or more, which paints a very worrisome picture regarding patient data confidentiality and security, to say the least.

As one would come to expect, medical records are attracting a lot of attention from hackers and other Internet criminals. Billing and insurance details are quite valuable as well, and patients are being affected by these data breaches on various fronts. Correcting errors in medical records – which could be life-threatening, mind you – is not something 67% of business partners offer to healthcare organisations. This allows for hackers to impersonate patients and use their records for fraudulent purposes.

In the end, there are over 20,000 vacant data security positions open in the healthcare industry, yet these organisations cannot pay top dollar for services due to budget constraints. This lack of security staff will be a continual cause of concern for hospitals and medical practitioners all over the world, and until a solution can be found, data breaches will continue to occur.

Source: Dark Reading

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