Insiders Behind Most Breaches Of Patient Health Data

Most healthcare organizations say theyve been hit by breaches of patient data in the past year

More than 70 percent of healthcare organizations have suffered one or more breaches exposing patient health information in the past 12 months -- most of which originated from insiders, not cybercriminals.
A new report published today by Veriphyr, which offers identity and access intelligence services, found that employees peeking at other employees medical records was the most common source of a breach (35 percent), followed by snooping into friends and relatives records (27 percent), loss or theft of physical records (25 percent), and loss/theft of equipment housing patient data (20 percent).
Medical employees looking at fellow medical employees information is the No. 1 type of breach, which was surprising, says Alan Norquist, CEO and founder of Veriphyr. And their No. 1 concern was about employees looking at other employees records.
It took anywhere from one to three days (30 percent) to two to four weeks (17 percent) for the healthcare organizations surveyed to detect a breach; 25 percent of them said they resolved it within two to four weeks, 18 percent in one week, and 16 percent in one to three days. Nearly 80 percent were concerned that their existing tools dont detect these breaches in a timely way. And more than half said they dont have tools for monitoring unauthorized or inappropriate access to their patient data.
But even more interesting was that 80 percent said their senior management provides support for their security compliance efforts, and 65 percent said their upper-level management takes action based on their recommendations in a timely manner.
Thats unusual, Norquist says, because security pros are often frustrated that the recommendations they make to management arent acted upon. In healthcare, there seems to be alignment when it comes to privacy, he says, which is good news.
Meanwhile, cybercriminals arent attacking these organizations as much as their employees are by snooping: Some are even being recruited by cybercriminals to steal or leak information so it can be sold and monetized on the black market, according to Norquist.
The move to electronic records is a huge shift ... and they need the right monitoring tools, he says.
A full copy of the Survey of Patient Privacy Breaches report is available
here
.
Have a comment on this story? Please click Add Your Comment below. If youd like to contact
Dark Readings
editors directly,
send us a message
.

Last News
▸ Car Sector Speeds Up In Security. ◂ Discovered: 23/12/2024 Category: security	▸ Making use of a homemade Android army ◂ Discovered: 23/12/2024 Category: security	▸ CryptoWall is more widespread but less lucrative than CryptoLocker. ◂ Discovered: 23/12/2024 Category: security

**Cyber Security Categories**
Google Dorks Database	Exploits Vulnerability	Exploit Shellcodes

CVE List

Tools/Apps

News/Aarticles

Phishing Database

Deepfake Detection

Trends/Statistics & Live Infos

Tags:
Insiders Behind Most Breaches Of Patient Health Data