Experian, the credit report agency, told CBS earlier this year thatpatient records could sell for $1,000 online, compared to about $1for Social Security numbers. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Health care data has never been more vulnerable. In July, 42 separate hackingincidents led to the exposure of 22 million people’s health caredata, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’Office of Civil Rights.

That’s the second-highest number in a month since the departmentbegan tracking breaches in 2010. The only worse month wasFebruary 2015, when Anthem suffered a massive breach that exposedthe data of its nearly 80 million members.

There are very few, if any, health care organizations that can claim tohave been unaffected by cyberattacks. In remarks to the SenateCybersecurity Caucus reported by Health IT Security, Robert Lord,founder of Protenus Data Security Firm, referenced a recent reportthat showed 70 percent of health care systems had documented amajor breach.

Jennifer Covich Bordenick, eHealth Initiative CEO, similarlyargued that many operate under the false impression that stringentdata regulations in health care make the information difficult toaccess.

For starters, she pointed out, regulators are not checking tomake sure that health care organizations that are required to abideby HIPPA are in compliance: “There is no such thing as aHIPAA-certified organization. HHS does not go and certifyorganizations and say, ‘you are completely in compliance.’”

In recent years, however, patients have begun sharing healthcare information with a variety of third-party apps that aren’tsubject to any data regulations.

Bordenick described the hunt for data as the new “spacerace.”

“Whoever has the most data wins. Think about it. Think about thepotential of bioterrorism that would take place, if you discovereda certain population was susceptible to a certain German drug,” shesaid.

The average hacker, of course, is simply seeking a quick profit.And there’s no information more profitable than health care data.Experian, the credit report agency, told CBS earlier this year thatpatient records could sell for $1,000 online, compared to about $1for Social Security numbers.

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