The Paubox HIPAA Breach Report analyzes protected health information (PHI) breaches affecting 500 or more people as reported to the HHS in April 2018.
HIPAA Breaches Ranked by People Affected
Top Three Breach Types
- Paper/Films breaches ranked the highest with a whopping 609,624 people’s PHI hacked or stolen in April.
- Network Server breaches ranked second with PHI of 122,838 people breached.
- Email breaches came in third with 87,504 people having their PHI breached.
Bottom Three Breach Types
- Other Portable Electronic Device ranked as the lowest number of people’s PHI being breached in April with 2,100 breaches.
- Laptop was the second lowest type of breach as ranked by people affected with 7,216.
- Electronic Medical Record was the third lowest type of breach as ranked by people affected with 12,158.
HIPAA Breaches Ranked by Occurrence
The Most Common
- Email took the top spot as the most common breach type in April with a whopping 15 reported breaches.
- Paper/Films came in as the second most common breach type with 8 incidents.
- Desktop Computer came in third with 5 reported breaches in April.
Takeaways
For the second consecutive month, Email ranked first for Breaches Ranked by Occurrence.
It was a busy month for Paper/Films HIPAA Breaches, with over 600K people’s PHI breached. The bulk of that was via a breach by the California Department of Developmental Services: 582,174 individuals were affected.
As a HIPAA breach vector, email continues to be a proven entry point for malicious actors.
Full Data
Click here to download the raw data.
About the Paubox HIPAA Breach Report
The Paubox HIPAA Breach Report analyzes breaches that affected 500 or more individuals as reported in the HHS Wall of Shame in April 2018.
Minimize the risk of email getting you on the list with Paubox. Start for Free today.
