So far, more than 22 million people have been affected by health care data breaches in 2021-an increase of about 185% over the same period last year. According to a new report.
The report is published by Fortified Health Security, a provider of healthcare network security services, and includes data from the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The number of data breaches reported to OCR in the first six months of 2021 has increased by 27% over the same period last year—from 270 to 343. Since 2015, this number has grown exponentially, with 142 data breaches occurring in the first six months of that year. This means that between mid-2015 and 2021, there has been a 141% increase in violations.
Healthcare providers continued to account for the most violations (73% of the total), health plans accounted for 16%, and business partners accounted for 11%.
This is similar to the findings in a report released by Fortified Health Security in January. This indicates Supplier organizations accounted for 79% of all violations reported to HHS in the first 10 months of 2020.
The report shows that from January to June of this year, the total number of people affected by the health care data breach soared from 7.9 million in the same period last year to 22.7 million.
Interestingly, a small number of violations accounted for more than 50% of all affected people. Five violations, including violations involving anesthesia practices and a grocery chain with a pharmacy/clinic, affected approximately 11.13 million people across the country.
According to the report, malicious attacks have once again become the number one cause of data breaches, accounting for 73% of the total. Unauthorized access/disclosure accounted for another 22%, while theft, loss and improper disposal accounted for only 5%.
Overall, it is expected that cybercrime will cause US$6 trillion in losses worldwide this year. It is estimated that by 2025, this figure will climb to 10.5 trillion U.S. dollars.
Dan L. Dodson, Chief Executive Officer of Fortified Health Security, said in a press release: “Now, as the healthcare industry gains some breathing room from the pandemic, another is proliferating-cyber attacks.” “Key to our country Attacks on infrastructure (including our hospital system) have caused government agencies to refocus on cyber security. This has helped bring cyber security to the forefront of many board discussions.”
Last October, three government agencies warning It warned that “the threat of cybercrime against U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers is imminent and increasing.”
President Joe Biden also noticed this problem. Sign executive orders Designed to strengthen cybersecurity regulations.
Several major health care violations have highlighted the country’s urgent need to enhance its cybersecurity infrastructure, including the recent Ransomware attack on Scripps Health in San Diego This exposed the data of approximately 147,000 patients.
Photo: WhataWin, Getty Images
