The massive threat that hackers pose to all industries, including healthcare, came into sharp focus again. Last year, healthcare data breaches spiked by 55%, an alarming rate!
A recent cyberattack on a leading wireless network operator, T-Mobile, exposed more than 54 million people to greater risk of fraud and identity theft.
There were nearly 600 healthcare data breaches in 2020, a 55% jump from 2019. Not only did the number of breaches spike in the past year, but the average cost per breach increased by about 10%.
Data breaches in healthcare are becoming more common, and more expensive.
Several major providers announced they suffered data breaches in 2020, with Pittsburgh-based UPMC and Omaha-based Nebraska Medicine the latest to share their experience. Those breaches alone affected 255,000 individuals.
The average cost of a breach in healthcare increased 10.5% from 2019 to 2020, the report shows. The cost per breached record also rose to $499 from $429 the year before, a 16.3% jump.
Hacking and IT incidents led to 67.3% of all healthcare breaches in 2020, more than three times the next highest category, unauthorized disclosure, at 21.5%. Loss or theft of devices accounted for only 8.7% of breaches, a far cry from 2014, when it was the leading cause of security breaches in healthcare.
In 2020, hacking and IT incidents exposed healthcare information from 24.1 million breached records, 91.2% of all breached records.
“These results demonstrate the heightened impact of cybersecurity breaches, the shifting strategies of malicious actors, as well as how healthcare organizations are grappling with cybersecurity in today’s dynamic, cloud-first world.”
* Information and statistics quoted from a report published by cloud security company Bitglass.
For the risks that matter most in day-to-day care team communication, read the top security risks in healthcare communication.