Bitglass,
the Next-Gen CASB company, has released its fifth annual
Healthcare
Breach Report. Each year, Bitglass analyzes data from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services' "Wall of Shame," a database containing
information about breaches of protected health information (PHI) that affected
500 or more individuals. In 2019's report, the latest data is compared to that
of previous years, revealing key trends and cybersecurity challenges facing the
healthcare industry.
Breaches recorded
in the HHS database are categorized into one of the following groups:
- Hacking
or IT incidents: Breaches related to malicious hackers and improper IT
security
- Unauthorized
access or disclosure: All unauthorized access and sharing of protected
health information
- Loss
or theft: Breaches enabled by the loss or theft of endpoint devices
- Other:
Miscellaneous breaches and leaks related to items such as improper
disposal of data
According to the
study's findings, the number of breaches in 2018 was lower than that of the
previous year. Interestingly, however, the total number of records breached has
more than doubled since 2017. Additionally, of the 11.5 million individuals who
were affected by healthcare breaches in 2018, 67 percent had their information
exposed by hacking and IT incidents. The steady rise of this type of breach suggests
that healthcare IT systems are increasingly being targeted by malicious actors
who recognize that said systems house massive amounts of sensitive data.
"Healthcare firms
have made progress in bolstering their security and reducing the number of breaches
over the last few years," said Rich Campagna, CMO of Bitglass. "However, the
growth in hacking and IT incidents does deserve special attention. As such,
healthcare organizations must employ the appropriate technologies and
cybersecurity best practices if they want to secure the patient data within
their IT systems."
Key Findings:
- The
number of reported healthcare breaches reached a three-year low of 290 in
2018
- At
46 percent, hacking and IT incidents were the biggest causes of breaches,
with unauthorized access and disclosure coming in second place at 36
percent
- The
average number of individuals affected per breach was 39,739 in 2018 -
more than twice the average of 2017
- The
number of breaches caused by lost and stolen devices has decreased by
almost 70 percent since 2014
To learn more
about the state of security in healthcare, download the full report here: https://pages.bitglass.com/HealthcareBreachReport_LP.html