What Happens to Your Stolen Medical Data
It’s pretty obvious why you want to keep personal information such as passwords and credit card information private. But the medical data may not be so obvious: what hackers care if I have diabetes? Thanks to the new report, we now know a little more about what happens when healthcare data is compromised.
According to the report, hackers can sell stolen data on the darknet . The most valuable health information is not actually your health information, but documents that can help people commit other types of fraud:
- Documents that would allow someone to impersonate a doctor or other legitimate healthcare provider, such as malpractice insurance and medical licenses. (This data sells for about $ 500.)
- Health insurance cards, prescriptions and drug labels. They can help someone write a prescription that doesn’t belong to them (or fake a prescription that looks legitimate). With a fake card, someone can get your insurance to pay for their care. (They cost between $ 10 and $ 120.)
- Logins to health insurance websites that you can use for more information in conjunction with the above. The goal here is the same as with a fake insurance card: to get medical help from someone else who pays the bill.
There is little you can do if your hospital or doctor’s information is compromised. But this information shows how important it is for these companies – and for you – to keep medical records safe.
For example, you will probably never email someone a photo of your credit card, but you may not realize that an insurance card is also valuable data that can turn your life around if someone else uses it. pretending to be you. So keep your medical records as confidential as possible, and if your hospital, laboratory, or local health care system gets breached, refer to our guide on what to do in the event of a data breach .