Banks and financial institutions have always been targeted by hackers, but health care organizations are increasingly getting hacked to pieces by data thieves, according to a recent report.
Health care data has become popular on the dark web because it is easily monetized and, unlike bank information, it’s hard to change.
The permanence problem
Although bank account numbers can be quickly changed, health histories cannot — which makes personal health information (PHI) up to 3x more valuable than other types of personally identifiable information (PII).
Plus, since health care transactions go through several intermediaries — providers, insurers, etc. — it can take longer to detect health care fraud than financial fraud.
On the dark web, doctor credentials are hot commodities that go for as much as $500 per record, while personal health insurance login information sells for a measly $3.25 per record.
Health care breaches are on the rise
Health care businesses in the US reported 44 breaches to the US government in April, the worst month on record.
The scale of these breaches is also worsening: A recent data breach at Quest Diagnostics may have impacted up to 11.9m patients’ records.