The sad truth: Healthcare data breaches are reaching the highest levels

If your healthcare data hasn’t been breached by 2024, then you either don’t know it yet or you should consider yourself very lucky.

That’s because 2024 was a difficult year for healthcare facilities and patients in the US 184,111,469 records are violated. That’s 53 percent of the 2024 United States population.

This staggering number represents significant growth from previous years, setting a new and alarming record for healthcare data breaches.

The healthcare industry has faced unprecedented challenges in cyber security, with attacks more frequent, sophisticated and destructive than ever before.

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Health check or data leak?

Being admitted to the hospital is stressful enough. It caused more stress 100 million clients of Change Healthcareits data was exposed following a breach by the BlackCat ransomware group. The breach not only exposed sensitive health information, but also caused widespread disruption in claims processing. Patients and providers across the country faced chaos as the breach impacted their ability to access and pay for health services.

The second major breach occurred at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, where personal data of 13.4 million people are at risk. This breach involved unauthorized access and the use of tracking technology that transmits user interactions to third parties.

Diagram of healthcare data that needs to be locked (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

HACKERS SEEK HUGE BREAK OF COMPANY THAT TRACKS AND SELLS LOCATION DATA OF AMERICANS

Your health data is being breached, then?

You will receive a letter of notification, although you know it may take months before it reaches you (as was the case with the victims Ascension Health data breach). The consequences are real and can be very painful. Medical identity theft directly affects the health and safety of patients. It occurs when criminals use stolen personal health information to obtain medical services or medications under someone else’s name. It can cause incorrect medical records to be created which can include incorrect diagnoses, allergies or treatments.

And as you might guess, it can also have financial implications, such as patients receiving fraudulent claims and bills for services they didn’t receive. Resolving these issues with insurance providers and health care providers takes time and mental energy. And you’re probably in no rush to see your offending healthcare provider again. That’s normal. Research has shown that up to 54% of patients consider switching providers after a data breach.

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A doctor looking at health care data on a screen (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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When health data comes into the hands of data consumers

Sensitive health information can easily be combined with personal identifiers from data brokers, creating complete profiles that criminals can exploit. As a reminder, data brokers are companies that specialize in collecting, processing and selling personal information from various sources, including public records, internet activities and social media.

They aggregate this data to create detailed consumer profiles that can be sold to advertisers, insurance companies and other organizations for various purposes. The more detailed the profile, the greater the likelihood of identity theft and potential employment and insurance discrimination. Employers may make hiring decisions based on perceived health risks, while insurers may refuse coverage or raise premiums.

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A doctor and a patient in a health center (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

HIDDEN COSTS OF FREE OPERATION: YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Wash your hands, delete your data

You can’t prevent a data breach, but you can minimize its consequences by reducing your overall digital footprint.

1. Set your social media to private: Restrict access to your personal information and limit what strangers can see about your health and possible health status. Make sure your privacy settings are strong and updated regularly to prevent unauthorized data collection.

2. Extract your personal data from data brokers’ databases: By searching your name on people search sites and requesting removal, individually, or by using a data removal service. Data removal services automate data removal for you and allow you to track where your data was found and whether it was removed, not only from people search sites, which are public data sellers, but also from hidden, private databases where you can’t look for yourself (and these are the worst).

Once your data is removed, data removal services monitor the data brokers of your data and remove it again as needed (because it has a tendency to be re-listed after a while). This way, you prevent data broker companies from compiling a full profile on you and selling it to the first bidder, whether that’s a hacker, a marketing agency or an insurance company. Check out my top picks for data removal services here.

3. Delete all unused apps from your phone: Unused apps can be hidden gateways to data leaks and potential security vulnerabilities. Do research often and again remove applications that you no longer use or need.

4. Check the permissions of those you want to keep: Review each application access to your personal data, location and device features to ensure that you do not intentionally share more information than is necessary. Be very careful with health and fitness tracking apps.

5. Use a VPN (virtual private network) when browsing: Encrypt your online activities and hide your digital location to add an extra layer of anonymity and protection. A reliable VPN can help protect your personal information from potential aggregators and data miners. For the best VPN software, see my expert review of the best VPNs for private web browsing Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.

Kurt’s priority is taking

The reality of a healthcare data breach is scary, but it’s not completely out of your control. While you can’t prevent a breach from happening, you can take steps to reduce the risk and protect your personal information. Think of it as adding locks to your digital doors: set your social media to private, use a VPN and clean up unused apps. Remember, the less information you leave out there, the harder it is for bad actors to use it. Always be careful and don’t let your data become someone else’s profit.

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How do you feel about the growing risks to your personal information, and what steps have you taken to protect your data? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

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