A wake up call for healthcare privacy and security leaders as the latest Breach Barometer discloses a concerning 187% increase in patient record breaches during 2023.
Over 171 million patient records were breached in 2023 according to the 2024 Bluesight Breach Barometer. Published by Bluesight, a leading healthcare compliance analytics company that protects patient data for the nation’s leading health systems, the annual Breach Barometer report is the industry’s definitive source for health data breach reporting review.
The alarming figures in the 2024 Breach Barometer Report, analyzing data incidents of the previous year, unveil staggering statistics impacting health organizations in every state. Findings from the report include insights into key areas such as:
- Predominance of hacking incidents, significantly inflating the count of patient records breached.
- Unauthorized access, including insiders represents 93% of the cause of reported incidents, underscoring the persistent and discrete operational disruptions.
- Escalated financial ramifications for breached entities, facing more severe penalties and settlements.
Healthcare entities continue to endure the highest costs associated with data breaches, above all other sectors. In reviewing the 2024 Breach Barometer Report, it’s evident that hospital leaders, patient privacy and compliance experts, as well as data security mavens, must unify to elevate protection mechanisms and procedures. As such, the report advocates for enhanced compliance privacy policies and education, adoption of machine learning driven technology to help proactively mitigate risk, and accentuates a desperate cry for fortified cyber resilience, crucial to defending the sensitivity of patient information.
Nick Culbertson, Former Protenus CEO and Co-founder states, “Today’s privacy and security leaders face the challenge of defending against external threats like hackers and internal risks from insider unauthorized access. Their responsibility includes ensuring data access is restricted to authorized individuals, supported by robust perimeter defenses and a culture of compliance.”
Discover insights from the report’s findings, based on aggregated data and expert analyses provided within. Healthcare organizations must take prompt actions to bolster their institution’s defenses against privacy threats, big and small. Click here to download the latest report, or for more information.
Incidents included in the analyses for this report were compiled and analyzed by DataBreaches.net, with additional research and analyses provided by Bluesight.