If your health data hasn’t been breached in 2024, you either don’t know about it yet or consider yourself extremely lucky.
That’s because 2024 was a nightmare for American healthcare providers and patients. 184,111,469 records Compromised. This represents 53% of the US population in 2024.
This staggering number represents a significant increase from the previous year and sets an astonishing new record for healthcare data breaches.
The healthcare sector faces unprecedented challenges in cybersecurity, with attacks becoming more frequent, sophisticated, and damaging than ever before.
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Illustration of a hacker stealing medical data at work (Kurt “Cyber Guy” Knutson)
Health check or data breach?
Just being admitted to the hospital can be quite stressful. it caused more stress Change Healthcare’s 100 million customers‘s data was leaked after a breach orchestrated by the BlackCat ransomware group. The breach not only exposed sensitive health information but also caused widespread disruption to insurance claims processing. The breach affected access to and ability to pay for health care services, and patients and health care providers across the country faced disruption.
The second major breach occurred at the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. 13.4 million people were compromised. The breach included unauthorized access and the use of tracking technology that transmitted user interactions to a third party.
Diagram of medical data that requires lockup (Kurt “Cyber Guy” Knutson)
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What happens if your health data is compromised?
You will receive a notification letter, but please note that it may take months to arrive (as it did for victims) Ascension Health Data Breach). The consequences are real and can be extremely painful. Theft of medical information directly impacts patient health and safety. This occurs when criminals use stolen personal health information to obtain medical services or medications in someone else’s name. This can result in incorrect medical records containing inaccurate diagnoses, allergies, or treatments.
And, as you can imagine, there can be financial implications, such as patients receiving fraudulent charges or being billed for services they did not receive. Resolving these issues with insurance companies and health care providers takes time and mental strength. And you’re probably in no rush to never see the compromised healthcare provider again. That’s normal. According to research, Up to 54% of patients consider changing provider after data breach.
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Doctor looking at medical data on screen (Kurt “Cyber Guy” Knutson)
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When your health data falls into the hands of data brokers
Sensitive health information can be easily combined with personally identifying information from data brokers to create comprehensive profiles that criminals can exploit. Data brokers are companies that specialize in collecting, processing, and selling personal information from a variety of sources, including public records, online activity, and social media.
This data is aggregated to create detailed consumer profiles that can be sold to marketers, insurance companies, and other parties for a variety of purposes. The more detailed the profile, the greater the potential for identity theft and potential discrimination in employment and insurance. Employers may make hiring decisions based on perceived health risks, while insurance companies may deny coverage or increase premiums.
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Doctor and patient in a medical facility (Kurt “Cyber Guy” Knutson)
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Wash your hands and delete your data
While you can’t prevent data breaches, you can minimize their impact by reducing your overall digital footprint.
1. Set your social media to private. Restrict access to personal information And limit what strangers can see about your life and potentially your health. Make sure your privacy settings are robust and regularly updated to prevent unauthorized data collection.
2. Delete personal data from the data broker’s database: Search for your name on a people search site and request deletion one by one, or use a data deletion service. Data deletion services automate data deletion and make it easy to see where exactly the data was found and whether it was deleted, not only on public data brokers, people search sites, but also on hidden private databases that users cannot access. You can track what’s going on. Look at yourself (and these are the worst).
Once the data is deleted, the data deletion service monitors the data broker and deletes the data again if necessary (as it tends to get relisted after some time). This prevents data broker companies from creating a complete profile about you and selling it to the first bidder (hacker, marketing agency, insurance company, etc.). Check out my recommended data deletion services here.
3. Delete all unused apps on your phone. Unused applications can be hidden gateways to data leaks and potential security vulnerabilities. Conduct regular audits, Delete the app Something you no longer use or need.
4. Check the permissions of what you want to keep. Reviews of each app Access to personal data, location information, and device features This is to avoid accidentally sharing more information than necessary. Be especially careful with health and fitness tracking applications.
5. Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) when browsing. Encrypt your online activities and mask your digital location for an added layer of anonymity and protection. reliable VPN Helps protect your personal information from potential eavesdroppers and data miners. For the best VPN software, read my expert review of the best VPNs to browse the web privately. Windows, Mac, Android, iOS devices.
Cart important points
The reality of healthcare data breaches is frightening, but not completely out of control. Although we cannot prevent a breach from occurring, you can take steps to minimize risk and protect your personal information. Think of this as adding a lock to your digital door. Make your social media private, use a VPN, and clean up unused apps. Keep in mind that the less information you leave out there, the harder it is for malicious parties to exploit it. Always be vigilant and ensure that your data is not used for the benefit of others.
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What do you think about the increased risks to your personal information? And what steps have you taken to protect your data? Let us know by emailing us. Cyberguy.com/Contact.
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