PHI Breaches Affect 90% Of Industries

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Protected health data breaches affect 90 percent of industries, according to a Verizon report.

Healthcare isn’t the only industry affected by breaches of protected health information. According to the preliminary findings of a Verizon report, 90 percent of industries report having felt some effect of PHI data breaches.

iHealth Beat reports investigators examined 1,931 breaches that affected 392 million records across 25 countries. Breach data from 20 different sectors including healthcare was included in the final report, which will be released in December.

“Protected health information is like gold for today’s cybercriminal,” said Suzanne Widup, lead author for the Verizon Enterprise Solutions report. “What makes our findings even more troubling is that many sectors — especially those outside of the healthcare industry — aren’t even aware that they hold this type of data. The ramifications of stolen medical information can have significant consequences for the safety and well-being of the patient. This data can be extremely damaging in the hands of those wanting to commit various types of financial fraud.”

Co-author Bryan Sartin thought it important to also note that, while people assume cybersecurity attacks are so sophisticated, they are really not so mysterious. These breaches are happening in places many industries don’t think to safeguard, such as health insurance information from personnel files. Or, as Med City News reports, it could be caused by something as simple as sending an email to the wrong person.