Thursday, October 22, 2015

The Health Care Industry Needs a Security Booster Shot

In early September, a Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliate in upstate New York revealed that hackers had compromised 10.5 million patient and business partner records in a data breach that had continued, undetected, for almost two years. It wasn't the first health care industry breach of 2015, and it probably won't be the last. It wasn't even the largest: back in January, hackers hit Anthem, the nation's second largest health insurer, and stole as many as 80 million people's records.

Medical records are a juicy prize on the black market, selling for as much as $70 each, as Jim Trainor of the FBI Cybersecurity Division told CBS News in February. NPR's "All Things Considered" even reported recently that it found a "value pack" of ten Medicare numbers selling for about $4,700. So if your company is in the business of health care, you are almost certainly in a hacker's sights, and your data security is due for an immediate check-up.

No comments:

Post a Comment