Overstating the importance of healthcare data security. The amount of information shared between the software and clinics every day is nothing short of exceptional. Therefore, it is more than clear that protecting all this data is crucial. We are talking about sensitive content. That’s why it is an absolute must to have an app that can help protect it.
The commonest way for the data to be breached is through hacking. We all know how numerous these cyberattacks have become in the last decade. Another situation when the data might be in danger is during data entry through medical transcription. We will not disclose all the potential consequences of unsecured health data.
The Value of Healthcare Data
Healthcare data hold s a high value on the black market. The reason is simple; these include much important information, and the most significant is personally identifiable information. So, when cyberattacks occur, we can see that the number of compromised patient records is exceptional.
If you compare the value of healthcare data to any other data, you will see that it is much more valuable. For instance, you will see that just one of these records might reach up to $250 in value on the black market. Yet, on the other side, you will see that a payment card info value doesn’t go higher than $5.5.
Therefore, nobody should be surprised that cyberattacks become more advanced every year. Underestimating these attacks results in massive financial damage for the clinic and its patients. So, clinics must undergo all the measures to protect their data at all costs to avoid unnecessary damage.
What are the Consequences?
The consequences for clinics that experience data breaches are nothing short of a catastrophe. It is interesting to know that these don’t occur only once. Instead, they can increase over time. Not only will the clinic itself experience penalties for not protecting the data efficiently, but it is also always possible that its clients will sue them later.
When this happens, the clinics must establish where their patients live and what regulatory authority they fall under. The local regulations will define the type of breach and who needs to be notified after this happens. As you can presume, this doesn’t just involve health and financial damage but also personal damage.
If a clinic has patients from different countries, they might have to comply with various requirements. The accumulated costs of these processes can be too much to handle for smaller clinics. Besides this damage, it is more than clear that it will have a massive negative effect on the clinic’s reputation and credibility.
Biggest Data Breaches in 2021
Now, we want to point out the biggest data breaches in 2021.
Accellion
The biggest healthcare data breach occurred in February when over 3.5 million medical reports were stolen. Initially, the motives behind the attack on these reports were unknown. However, we can see that many companies have received threats about leaking the data to the black market if they don’t pay the ransom.
After a couple of months, the attack was attributed to the famous Clop ransomware group. Over the years, the group has been credited for more than a dozen attacks of similar nature and scope. They have been active, especially after the start of the pandemic of COVID-19 since the healthcare industry has been overwhelmed.
Over a hundred companies have been affected by the breach that occurred in February. We can see that the targeted companies came from a wide array of countries, such as the United States, Canada, Singapore, and the Netherlands. But, of course, the healthcare industry is the one that got the biggest blow in this situation.
Florida Healthy Kids
The next healthcare data breach that marked 2021 was the only one experienced by the Florida Healthy Kids Corporation. However, it needs to be said that the breach didn’t occur only this year. Instead, the whole incident lasted for more than seven years. The reason for this breach was the failure of a patch that caused numerous gaps to appear on the website.
The investigation is not over to this day, and those who are in charge of this investigation cannot rule out the possibility of a much higher scope that has been stolen. Until this day, around 3.5 million records have been documented as stolen. In these reports, there was a lot of personal information about the patients.
Fortunately for the company, HIPAA stated that it complied with all the regulations and was not to blame for the breach. Nevertheless, the attacks have hurt the company’s credibility and reputation.
Summary
As you can see, the consequences of failing to provide the necessary protection for the patient’s reports come at a high price. Here, we’ve discussed all you need to know about these. Plus, we’ve talked about two major incidents that occurred not too long ago.
