Healthcare Data Breaches Most Common Threats to Date in 2021

Data breaches in the first six months of 2021 increased slightly in the United States and healthcare data breaches remain at the top of the most-breached sector list, according to a new report. 

Risk Based Security released its 2021 data breach and vulnerability reports on August 4.  

“Unfortunately, it’s not surprising to see the Healthcare sector once again in the top position as the most breached economic sector,” the report notes. “Healthcare has been at or near the top of the chart since at least 2017.”  

Inga Goddijn, executive vice president of Risk Based Security, said in an interview with HealthITSecurity that healthcare providers are an attractive target for cyberattacks, which is dangerous for the industry. 

The 2021 Mid Year Data Breach QuickView Report studied 1,767 publicly reported data breaches in the first half of 2021.  

“The healthcare sector remains in the crosshairs, accounting for the most breaches through June 30th,” the report states. 

A total of 18.8 billion records were exposed in those breaches and it shows a decline of 24% according to the report.  

“The decline in breach disclosures comes primarily from locations outside of the United States, including breaches originating from unknown origins. In the US, the number of reported breaches increased by 1.5%,” according to the report.  

The report covers data breaches publicly disclosed between January 1 and June 30, 2021. 

“From the perspective of attackers, healthcare providers are a good target,” Goddijn stated in the interview. “Downtime can literally be a matter of life and death in some circumstances, making service interruptions especially difficult to tolerate.” 

“Add to that the high value data many providers have flowing through their systems that can be sold on the underground markets for stolen data and it's clear why healthcare makes an attractive sector to target,” Goddijn noted in the interview.  

Although the study shows a slight decrease, ransomware attack are continuing.  

“Ransomware attacks continue at an alarming pace, inflicting serious damage on the victim organizations that rely on their services,” Goddijn commented in a press release. 

“The slow pace of reporting brought on by lengthy incident investigations has not improved and attackers continue to find new opportunities to take advantage of changing circumstances,”  Goddijn concluded.