April 08, 2015
We recently discussed why healthcare data is so valuable; healthcare records can go for at least 10 times as much as credit card data on the black market. According to a Forrester Report, Stolen and Lost Devices are Putting Personal Healthcare at Risk, a single health record can be sold on the black market for $20, while a complete patient dossier (including driver’s license, health insurance information and other sensitive information) can fetch over $500.
The high price of healthcare records on the market is attracting thieves, who are exploiting any vulnerability they can find, be it an unpatched system or an insecure endpoint device. An editorial on ID Experts recently explored some of the reasons why healthcare organizations are increasingly targeted for data theft:
Boston University health policy professor Alan Sager recently noted, "The ability of health care companies to compile data has grown far faster than their ability to protect it.” 90% of healthcare organizations reported at least one data breach in the past 2 years and 38% reported more than five. The cost of healthcare data breaches could hit $5.6 billion in 2015, including such costs as compliance fines, lawsuits, as well as the costs associated with data breach notification and loss of consumer trust.
The average cost of a data breach is higher in healthcare than in any other industry, up now to $5.9 million per breach. If your organization can’t handle this cost, we’d like to help.
Learn more here.
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