How Cyber Breaches Affect Healthcare Organizations

How Cyber Breaches Affect Healthcare Organizations
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How Cyber Breaches Affect Healthcare Organizations
Introduction
The increasing cases of cyber-attacks witnessed across the world are a cause for worry as indicated by the subsequent implications across the social, political, and economic dimensions worldwide. Nations such as the United States and other European countries, for instance, have witnessed increased infringement on the privacy of their state structures and private organizations through cyber breaches or attacks on their databases and other data storage networks. Such occurrences account for strained relations between and among nations, as is the current case for the United States and Russia. The former accuses the latter of interference with the local elections through orchestrated cyber-attacks. It is an increasingly growing concern with its encroachment to other essential sectors as the healthcare system. Cyber breaches in the healthcare sector are a key challenge to delivering quality care to patients due to their diverse implications on both the patients and healthcare providers. Healthcare data and information safety face a major challenge in the increased cases of cyber-attacks on healthcare facilities’ databases for equally diverse objectives by the perpetrators of such activities. My attempt to unveil the nature of cyber breaches in the healthcare sector makes interesting revelations into the manifestation of the same and its implications across the healthcare system. My research findings on cyber breaches in the healthcare sector seek to understand its extent in the industry, its different manifestations, and implications across the different stakeholders in the healthcare system.
According to the University of Illinois in Chicago, approximately 750 cases of cyber-attacks on the healthcare sector lead to breaching personal records for over 190 million people in 2015 CITATION Uni20 \l 1033 (University of Illinois Chicago, 2020). Such breaches in personal records expose innocent individuals to identity theft cases and other forms of fraud by the perpetrators. Seh, A. Hussain et al. (2020) indicates that over 240 million individuals were affected by cyber breaches in healthcare between 2005 and 2019 CITATION Seh20 \l 1033 (Seh, 2020). The study further posits that out of the 2216 cyber breaches reported in 2018, healthcare data breaches accounted for over 530 cases CITATION Seh20 \l 1033 (Seh, 2020). Hussain and his colleagues further reveal that cyber breaches in healthcare accounted for the exposure of over 41.2 million healthcare data records for the 505 cyber breaches reported in 2019 CITATION Seh20 \l 1033 (Seh, 2020). Anuja Vaidya (2021) indicates that the rate of healthcare cyber-attacks increased by 55% in 2020, with a corresponding 10% increase in the cost of data breaches in the approximately 600 cases of breaches in healthcare data reported CITATION Vai21 \l 1033 (Vaidya, 2021). The increasing number of data breaches in healthcare is a cause for worry as it also reflects increasing negative implications on individuals around the world. The financial implications, for instance, lead to increased cost of healthcare and thus hindering the delivery of quality care for patients across the socio-economic divide. An online article by the University of Illinois highlights Becker Hospital's review estimates the total cost of data breaches in healthcare at an approximate $5.6 billion annually CITATION Uni20 \l 1033 (University of Illinois Chicago, 2020). The article further reveals that over 27 million patient records were exposed to fraudulent activities through rampant breaches reported in 2016, which recorded an average of one breach per day CITATION Uni20 \l 1033 (University of Illinois Chicago, 2020...