Over One-Third of Medical Practices Have Experienced a Medical Breach: Here’s Why

It’s no secret that the healthcare industry has been a long time target for money-hungry cybercriminals. The combination of a large quantity of sensitive data, big money (for some hospitals), and high stakes in operations make the industry the perfect high-value target for attacks. The industry stores a great deal of confidential, personal, and protected information, creating a figurative bull’s eye on their backs for cybercriminals.

A recent survey on data security and technology trends found some alarming trends:

• More than ⅓ of medical practices have experienced a data breach.
• Of those breaches, 49% were caused by human error.
• Data and security training is minimal at healthcare clinics – playing a pivotal role leading to the above statistics.
• The majority of data within healthcare is stored digitally – meaning patient data and more is stored in an on-premise server or the cloud. 
• Most medical practices are not prepared to handle a cybersecurity breach: the survey found that 49% of small practices and 15% of large practices did not have a plan in place for an attack.

What can we learn from this? PK Tech’s takeaways:

1. Large firms can no longer sweep breaches under the rug. While small firms might still be getting away with it, large medical practices need to be highly self-aware and more transparent about their cybersecurity situation.
2. Ransomware attacks don’t have to be a catastrophic event. Preparation can prepare your firm or organization to have a cybersecurity plan to ensure operations continue or resume as quickly and as normally as possible. 
3. While large firms typically worry more and spend more on cybersecurity attack prevention, small firms should stay alert and prepare. Failing to do so could be a grave and costly mistake.

Digital healthcare is here to stay–almost all hospitals and practices are already storing their critical data in the cloud or on local servers, and those not already doing so will move towards it as time goes on. We live in a digital age, and there’s no denying it–but it is essential to be aware and prepared for the risks of data breaches and cyberattacks in a digital healthcare world.

PK Tech has long supported practices in the healthcare industry. If we can help your practice or clinic, our team would love to chat with you. Get in touch with us here.