Healthcare cybersecurity breaches hit a record high last year, exposing an unprecedented amount of patients' protected health information. About 45 million individuals were affected by healthcare data breaches in 2021, up from about 34 million in 2020, according to a report from cybersecurity company Critical Insights.
Two Florida spine practices are among the latest medical groups to be targeted by cybercriminals:
1. Jacksonville-based Jax Spine and Pain Centers is investigating a ransomware attack that occurred Jan. 24. The 11-physician practice notified the FBI and shut down the affected server after hackers threatened to publish stolen patient files online unless a ransom was paid. An investigation is ongoing into the data breach, which affected patient files created before May 2018, according to the group.
2. Boca Raton-based IRise Florida Spine and Joint Institute in Boca Raton submitted a data breach report to HSS on Jan. 21 after an email account was accessed and exposed the protected health information of 61,595 individuals. The data breach included names, birth dates and medical information, but there has not been evidence that any of the data was misused, according to the practice.