Report predicts more cybercrime for healthcare
The healthcare industry will continue to be a vulnerable and attractive target for cybercriminals in 2015, according to the second annual Data Breach Industry Forecast conducted by Experian.
The expanding number of access points to protected health information and other sensitive data via EHRs plus the growing popularity of wearable technology are what make healthcare so attractive to attack.
The report predicts that healthcare will continue to be plagued with data breaches in 2015. Healthcare organizations accounted for about 42 percent of all major data breaches reported in 2014 and “we expect this number will continue to grow until the industry comes up with a stronger solution to improve its cybersecurity strategies,” said Michael Bruemmer, vice president at Experian Data Breach Resolution, in a statement.
“Healthcare organizations face the challenge of securing a significant amount of sensitive information stored on their network, which combined with the value of a medical identity string makes them an attractive target for cybercriminals,” states the report. Adding to the problem is that many doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals do not have enough resources to safeguard their patients’ PHI.
Patients’ Medicare cards are particularly vulnerable since they contain valuable information such as a Social Security number that can be used for fraud, according to the report.
Healthcare organizations will “need to step up their security posture and data breach preparedness or face the potential for scrutiny from federal regulators.” Experian also forecasts that reported incidents may continue to rise as EHRs and consumer-generated data “add vulnerability and complexity to security considerations for the industry.”
Read the full report.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.