Healthcare Industry Struggles With Data Theft

The healthcare industry is under fire regarding hacked data and patient information security. Breaches involving sensitive data have been on the rise, bringing a lot of heat to an industry trusted for safeguarding patient health and other vulnerable data. In May of 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attack seized over 300,00 computer systems in a matter of days. Protenus reports 41% of hacked healthcare information was done by employee error or intention. It’s a troubling mix of employee misconduct and outside hackers plaguing industry data security.

Chris Byers, CEO of data collection platform FormStack, suggests ways healthcare organizations can improve data security and deal with hacking events after a breach.

Identify Where There Were Vulnerabilities

Find the origin of the vulnerability and isolate it. Was it an outside hack, insider action, what is the scope and how did it occur? Risk assessment is often necessary.

Get Legal Assistance

Legal assistance is necessary to assess damage and culpability for potential liability lawsuits. A security team can take an in-depth look into security errors, help fix those, and prevent future issues.

Notify Affected Parties and HHS

HIPAA states that all healthcare industries must notify all affected individuals and notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). By law they have 60 days to do this. If they don’t do it, they may face a willful neglect charge and have to fork-over a $100,000+ fine per violation.

Address Identified Vulnerabilities and Other Risks

Even though a breach is reported, cleaning up afterward takes serious effort. A security audit is necessary to make changes to hardware and software to avoid further risk.

Manage the Consequences

Aside from potential fines and the cost of preventing future hacks, a company’s image may be at risk. A media plan of action and outreach to victims may help minimize financial loss due to bad publicity and poor public image.