Health Data Breaches Continued to Soar in 2021

According to a new analysis of government data published by Politico, healthcare organizations and insurers in every state in the United States, apparently except for South Dakota, were impacted by a breach of their healthcare data.

Based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 45 million Americans experienced a breach involving their sensitive healthcare data. According to the analysis, this is more than a threefold increase in the past three years, and most of the increase is related to hacking—not incidents caused by employees. Because of the value of healthcare information to hackers and the increased risk of ransomware attacks, now is the time to make sure all security protections (firewalls, penetration testing, phishing avoidance, etc.) are in place and up to date. All organizations—no matter the size—need to be proactive and vigilant, because a data breach or hacking incident can cripple an organization.

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