Is Cybersecurity Really That Big of a Deal In Healthcare? Risks of Healthcare Data Breaches
If your small to medium-sized healthcare clinic uses digital records, odds are you may be at risk for data breaches. HIPAA compliance is a priority for any business in healthcare. To protect sensitive data, you'll need to understand the risks of data breaches, types of breaches, and vulnerabilities that lead to them.
Types of healthcare data breaches
According to The HIPAA Journal, major healthcare data breaches reported in 2022 fell under the categories of:
- malware infection
- ransomware attack
- hacking incident/data theft
- pixel-related impermissible disclosure via websites
How Healthcare Data Breaches Happen
The HIPAA Journal lists the following causes for major reported health data breaches:
- Improper disposal
- [data] loss/theft
- unauthorized access/disclosure
- hacking/IT incident.
Hacking/IT incidents were the top kind of healthcare breaches reported in 2022. This makes them the number one concern for healthcare data security.
The Digitization of Medical Devices
A new cybersecurity roadblock has been the surge of devices capable of connecting to the internet and business networks. Medical and everyday devices might not have the same cybersecurity features as a PC. This means hackers can take advantage of these vulnerabilities to get past firewalls and onto more important devices like computers. Read more about the risks of digitized devices and how your printer can pose a risk in our blog about it here.
Zero-Day Attacks
Cybercriminals are always coming up with new avenues to access protected data, with new “Zero-Day attacks” reported every year. A Zero-Day attack is a never-before-seen kind of cyber attack, which makes it especially difficult to deal with or understand. The good news is that as cybersecurity experts learn more about these new cybercrime methods, they can adapt security measures.
Productivity Roadblocks and Liability
When cyberattacks occur, they can cause IT outages that affect both your patients and staff. Patient care will undoubtedly suffer if they gain access to your network, as hackers can hold more than patient records hostage. Cybercriminals can shut down patient portals and cut off access to essential records. This poses a huge and sometimes life-threatening risk to vulnerable patients. Because of this, a simple breach could lead to countless headaches for you, your staff, and ultimately, your patients.
Reputational Consequences and the HIPAA Wall of Shame
The effects of healthcare data breaches can be felt for years to come, especially with HIPAA’s crackdown on healthcare data security.
The “HIPAA Wall of Shame” is a database of healthcare entities that have been victims of cyber attacks. This leaves a lasting stain on the reputations of businesses unfortunate enough to end up there.
The United Healthcare Data Breach
United Healthcare Services, Inc. located in Connecticut, was one of those businesses. This data breach is a good example of the importance of encouraging staff and patients to use unique passwords to log into apps and servers.
The United Healthcare data breach was due to a type of attack called “credential stuffing”. This kind of attack is when hackers "stuff" stolen login credentials into other apps and websites to gain access to user accounts.
Investigations revealed the May 2023 breach exposed healthcare plan members' first and last names, health insurance IDs, provider names, insurance claims and group names to cybercriminals.
This data breach has led to immeasurable damage to United Healthcare's reputation. When customers are subject to data exposure, they lose all trust in your organization, which can cost you business.
Is Your Business Safe From Cybercrime?
You may not realize all the tools and systems that can make your business vulnerable to cyberattacks. With the growing threat of cybercrime and the big ramifications within the highly regulated healthcare industry, you’ll need to take measures to protect your small business in case of the unthinkable. Read more about tools that can pose a risk in our blog about it here.