Good news? Retail data breaches of credit card and other financial records are way down compared to last year. But that’s because hackers have moved on to much more lucrative data…Your Healthcare Records. Attacks have risen from 7.8 million compromised records last year to 99.6 million compromised in 2015.
It’s a far worse problem for consumers as this article explains…
CNBC Reported on Dec 24th, 2015 that attacks and compromises on health care records have significantly increased…almost 1100%. About one in three Americans have had their health care record compromised…and may be exploited years from now.
There is a bit of good news, however. Attacks and compromises on retail data records, such as credit cards, are way down from previous years. But unfortunately, that’s because health care records are so much more lucrative and difficult to repair, fix or change.
“The problem with the health-care record is it’s what we call immutable data. It isn’t easy to change,” Caleb Barlow, IBM Security vice president said.
“You can’t call somebody up and say, ‘Hey, give me a new health-care record.’ It’s stuck with you for the rest of your life, so this information in the health-care record could be used 20 years from now to establish credit, file a tax return on your behalf, or file a false medical claim.”