142 healthcare data breaches in Q2, 30% caused by repeat offenders

The healthcare sector experienced 142 data breaches in the second quarter of 2018, affecting 3.14 million patient records. Around 30% of these breaches were caused by repeat offenders within the organizations. The report emphasizes the importance of proper education and reporting in order to prevent data breaches from accumulating over time. A lack of cybersecurity awareness among employees is a significant issue, with 70% of employees lacking preparedness. The report also highlights the challenge of monitoring insider threats, as investigators are responsible for monitoring an average of 4,000 employees and 2.5 hospitals. The report finds that health systems are investing more in their infosec teams, which has led to a decrease in the number of breaches. However, phishing incidents remain the biggest cyber threat, followed by ransomware and malware. Over 800,000 breached records were caused by business associates or third-party vendors. The report emphasizes the need for healthcare organizations to be vigilant in auditing access to patient data and warns of the average cost of a breach at $408 per patient record. The upcoming HIMSS Healthcare Security Forum will address these issues.