Five Reasons Why Healthcare Institutions Need Data Loss Prevention

Filip Cotfas, Channel Manager, CoSoSys gives plenty of reasons to invest in data protection to secure patient data and also prevent organisations from becoming insolvent

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Health information has always been considered extremely sensitive and with the rise of digital healthcare records, the need for its protection has become increasingly urgent. Due to the high volume of data they collect and their often vulnerable systems, healthcare organisations have turned into a favourite target of cybercriminals the world over. Frequent victims of data breaches, healthcare institutions face not only a loss of customer trust but also hefty fines as data protection regulations such as HIPAA in the US and GDPR in the EU moved to place responsibility for data protection squarely on organisations’ shoulders.

From the worst data breach to date that took place on January 2015 and affected 78.8 million Anthem Blue Cross patients to the latest news of the American Medical Collections Agency data breach that is estimated to have affected over 20 million patients this year and has driven the organisation to the brink of bankruptcy, healthcare institutions have plenty of reasons to invest in data protection. But what are the most important and what role does data loss prevention play in them? Let’s have a closer look!

Saving money

According to IBM Security’s 2019 Data Breach Cost Report, the average total cost of a data breach in the healthcare industry is $6.45 million, 65 per cent higher than the cross-industry average. This essentially means that, besides the loss of patient trust and the damage to a company’s public image, there is also a substantial financial price to be paid.