The single largest breach in February exposed 135,000 patient records in a ransomware attack on Albany, N.Y.-based St. Peter's Surgery & Endoscopy Center, according to a Protenus report.
The report, part of the "Protenus Breach Barometer" monthly series, analyzed healthcare breaches reported to HHS or disclosed to the media throughout February 2018.
Here are seven statistics from last month's healthcare data breaches.
1. There were 39 data security incidents reported in February, affecting 348,889 patient records.
2. Sixteen, or 41 percent, of the total breach incidents were the result of insiders; however, insider error was responsible for 15 incidents and insider-wrongdoing was responsible for only one.
3. Hacking accounted for 33 percent of incidents, followed by loss or theft (13 percent) and other, unidentified reasons (13 percent).
4. Most incidents (59 percent) were reported by healthcare providers, followed by health plans (21 percent) and businesses or vendors (10 percent). Another 10 percent of February's breaches were reported by other organizations.
5. One breach resulting from insider error took 1,510 days, or four years, to discover. However, the average time it took organizations to detect a breach was 325 days (median of 34 days).
6. It took organizations an average of 68 days to disclose a breach to HHS or the media. This is an improvement from one month prior, where it took 96 days to disclose a breach.
7. California experienced the most incidents (six) of any state, followed by Georgia and Wisconsin, which each saw three breaches.
Click here to view the full report.
More articles on cybersecurity:
Finger Lakes Health reports ransomware attack, unable to access computers
Banner Health under investigation for 2016 cyberattack
4 ways technology makes HIPAA easier to follow