By Jeff Wardon, Jr., Assistant Editor

So far in 2024, Healthcare Facilities Today has reported on 26 different cyber incidents, including ransomware, phishing and data breaches. That number is likely to climb in the second half of the year as cyberattacks show little signs of slowing down.  

To get a better look at just how many incidents happen each year and how they affect healthcare facilities, let’s take a closer look at the data.  

The following are statistics concerning cyber incidents in 2023 in healthcare, according to The HIPAA Journal: 

• 741 data breaches of 500-plus records. 
• About 140,000,000 individuals affected by healthcare security breaches. 
• 23 of the largest healthcare breaches between 2009 and 2024 occurred in 2023. 
• Hacking was the most common cause of breaches in 2023, with 596 incidents. 
• 125 unauthorized access or disclosure incidents.

Related: HHS Alerts Healthcare Organizations to 'Qilin' Ransomware Group

Education and collaboration are keys to stemming the tide of cyber incidents. Many healthcare organizations opt to not share information on how they responded, and this leaves potential cyber victims in the dark and incapable of responding to cyberattacks. 

“As other organizations around the world are breached, we need to keep on learning and learning from each of those incidents,” Ben Debow, founder and chief executive officer at Fortified, told Healthcare Facilities Today. “We must be making sure that we are staying diligent and in filling in those holes, those attack vectors and addressing those as an organization prepares and becomes stronger.”   

Jeff Wardon, Jr. is the assistant editor for the facilities market.