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The transition from paper to digital systems has beenmassivefor healthcare organizations.
Hospitals, clinics, and health insurance companies arent immune to these threats.
In fact, the sheer amount of sensitive data they hold makes them prime targets for bad actors.
Research from theHIPAA Journalshows that data breaches are on the rise.
This medical data has value in a monetary sense as well as an ethical one.
These detailed records can easily be monetized by those who have the means as well as the know-how.
These detailed records can easily be monetized by those who have the means as well as the know-how.
Permanent details like your social security number are valuable because they can be used for long-term fraud.
In fact, a cybercriminal has all sorts of available avenues when it comes to monetizing your stolen records.
The most obvious of which involves selling the data on thedark web.
For example, a hospital may continue to uselegacy systemsthat are no longer supported with security updates.
Its not just the direct vulnerabilities of a hospitals systems either.
If anything, theres a broader ecosystem of risks which includes external influences.
These risks include staff members who connect unsecure devices to a health organizations web connection.
Third-party vendors who work with healthcare organizations also pose a risk if their own networks arent properly secured.
In turn, this heightens the risk of the data becoming compromised.
What can you do to secure your data?
Unfortunately, you and I don’t have a lot of control over how healthcare organizations manage their systems.
