Data Breaches in Healthcare Totaled Over 112 Million Records in 2015

Cybersecurity in the healthcare industry – or lack thereof – was a hot topic in 2015 as 112 million records were stolen in 253 healthcare data breaches. Due to these staggering numbers throughout the years, congress passed the HITECH Act which states that the Secretary must “post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals … to allow users to search and sort the posted breaches.” This “Wall of Shame” will help Americans check to see if their information was possibly stolen.  With the top 10 data breaches resulting in over 111 million lost, stolen or inappropriately disclosed records, cybersecurity experts are left with the pressure to make drastic improvements in the new year.  Nonetheless, many experts predict that we should expect much of the same in 2016.