Patient Data Security In the News

Theft of medical records is on the rise because medical records themselves are valuable and apparently easily monitized. This is before you even consider using a medical record to affect or influence a patient.

Following are some recent articles on this subject.

• Top Tips for Keeping Patients’ Healthcare Data Protected
  A good starting point, but we take data protection much further.
  
  
• Why cyber thieves love health care--and what you can do about it
  Technology has left an indelible imprint on health care delivery, improving the accuracy and accessibility of patient information, but what about the risks?
  • Medical identity theft is more lucrative than credit card theft
  • Forty-three percent of all identity theft is caused by medical records theft
  • The cost of a health care data breach averages $316 per record
    
    
• Data Management: Brace for the Breach (pdf)
  The specter of a massive hack is haunting the healthcare industry. As it turns out, that might not necessarily be a bad thing for everyone involved.
  
  
• 5 ways health data breaches are far worse than financial ones
  The breach of personal financial information causes stress — recovering missing funds, paying late fees or interest, worrying about credit worthiness. Ultimately, however, a person’s financial identity can be fully restored. Not so with medical identity. Healthcare data breaches have a much more personal, longer lasting, and potentially deadly impact.
  
  
• Your medical information is worth 10 times more than your credit card number on the black market.
  In August, 2014, the FBI warned healthcare providers to guard against cyber attacks after one of the largest U.S. hospital operators, Community Health Systems Inc, said Chinese hackers had broken into its computer network and stolen the personal information of 4.5 million patients. Security experts say cyber criminals are increasingly targeting the $3 trillion U.S. healthcare industry, which has many companies still reliant on aging computer systems that do not use the latest security features.
  
  
• What's behind the dramatic rise in medical identity theft?
  A decentralized U.S. health system, increasing digitization of records, and demand in the black market are fueling a surge in thefts.
  
  
• CSID Study Finds Most Small Healthcare Facilities Unprepared for Data Breach
  CSID recently conducted a survey to determine what small healthcare facilities are doing to protect patient data. The survey results found that while healthcare breaches are on the rise, most small facilities feel that their systems adequately limit the risk of a data breach despite one in three facilities spending less than 10 percent of their IT budget on protecting patient data.
  
  
• Data Breach News: Pa. Server Hacked; Records Found Dumped
  A Pennsylvania healthcare service confirmed last week that it had a data breach incident where personal health information (PHI) may have been exposed.
  
  
• Medical Information More Valuable to Hackers Than Credit Card Numbers
  In light of the recently reported large healthcare data breaches that have resulted in the potential theft of the personal information of millions of patients, the FBI warned healthcare providers yet again of the dangers of cyber attacks.
  
  
• Why Would Chinese Hackers Steal Millions of Medical Records?
  A group of sophisticated Chinese hackers known for its high-stakes corporate espionage has a history of stealing medical-device blueprints, prescription-drug formulas and other valuable intellectual property from large health-care companies.
  
  
• Forget your credit card details, hackers make 10 times more money from stealing your medical records
  and they’re easier to get as hospitals' cyber security is so poor
  
  
• Electronic Medical Records, Privacy, Security and the Growing Threat of Medical Identity Theft
  The economic stimulus bill of 2009 includes $2 billion to develop a national system of electronic medical records. Although this bill streamlines the healthcare process and makes sharing information between doctors and healthcare facilities faster and easier, the potential for medical identity theft is becoming an even larger threat.