Cybercrime in Healthcare: Statistics

Cybercrime continues to be a big issue across many industries, and healthcare is one of its  biggest targets. Even as cybersecurity measures have improved, the threat to healthcare data is big. Cybersecurity is the state of being protected against the criminal or unauthorized use of electronic data and the measures taken to defend against attacks. The following statistics show how the healthcare industry has been affected by cybercrime:

• A rise in cyber attacks against doctors and hospitals is costing the U.S. healthcare system $6 billion a year.
• A 2014 industry benchmarking report ranked healthcare's cybersecurity preparedness behind that of the finance, retail and energy industries.
• The cost of a cyberattack for the average hospital is $3.5 million, but according to a HIMSS survey, 46 percent of hospitals spend less than $500,000 annually on cybersecurity. 
• Approximately 88 percent of CIOs and CISOs have reported increased cybersecurity budgets in recent years.
• Some 94 percent of medical institutions said their organizations have been victims of a cyber attack.
• Expenses related to a breach - incident handling, victim notification, credit monitoring - and projected lost opportunities cost healthcare organizations globally approximately $233 per compromised record.
• The cost of a healthcare security breach rose 282 percent in 2015.
• Consumers are responsible for costs related to compromised medical insurance records —costs that reached $12 billion in 2013.
• In 2015, almost 20 percent of global companies implemented a cybersecurity budget between $1 million and $4.9 million.
• Medical records sell for as much as 20 times the price of a stolen credit card number.
• The industry with the highest cost per stolen record in 2015 was healthcare, at $363 per record.
• Almost 20 percent of healthcare providers report they had a security breach in 2015.
• There were 253 healthcare breaches in 2015 that affected 500 individuals or more with a combined loss of more than 112 million records.
• An estimated 98 percent of healthcare data breaches in 2015 were caused by large scale hacks.
• Since 2009, approximately one third of Americans have been victims of a healthcare company breach. 
• Nearly 90 percent of healthcare providers were hit by breaches in 2013 and 2014.
• Fraudulent billing represents between 3-10 percent of healthcare expenditures in the U.S. each year.
• Healthcare security incidents increased 60 percent in 2015.

Learn More

A sound security and data governance strategy is one of the best ways to defend against a cybercrime attack. At Syntrix Consulting, we specialize in data governance and can work with you to ensure your organization’s data is optimally protected from a breach. We have solutions and experience for healthcare providers of all sizes. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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