As per the IBM report, data breach increased 566 percent in 2016 from 600 million to more than 4 billion. The report also mentioned that healthcare in no longer the most attacked sector. Most of the attack was carried out on financial services industry.
In 2016, 12 million records were affected in healthcare. In previous year, the breach was 100 million records which counts to eighty eight percent drop. IBM surveyed 8000 security clients in 100 countries.
IBM Security Vice President of Threat Intelligence Caleb Barlow mentioned that the cyber attacks was carried out with innovative techniques.
“While the volume of records compromised last year reached historic highs, we see this shift to unstructured data as a seminal moment,” Barlow said in a statement. “The value of structured data to cyber-criminals is beginning to wane as the supply outstrips the demand. Unstructured data is big-game hunting for hackers and we expect to see them monetize it this year in new ways.”
IBM mentioned that for ransomware attacks, 70 percent of the companies paid more that $10,000 to regain the access to data. According to the FBI, cyber-criminals were paid $209 million in first three months of 2016.
Ransomware attacks are on the rise with 400 percent increase. In the coming time healthcare will do many reforms which includes increase in internet of things (IoT) technology. This will increase the attacks.
“Retail and financial services have battened down their hatches,” IDC Health Insights Research President Lynne Dunbrack told HealthITSecurity.com in a 2016 interview. “Now the cyber criminals might still be nipping at those heels, but they are looking at other targets, healthcare being one of them.”
CynergisTek Vice President Dan Berger mentioned that attacks against healthcare are carried out with sophistication.
“The dramatic increase in hacking attacks in 2016, coupled with the large number of patient records compromised in those incidents, points to a pressing need for providers to take a much more proactive and comprehensive approach to protecting their information assets in 2017 and beyond,” Berger stated.
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