DSPM: Healthcare Data Security Amid Rising Breaches

Top security concerns in the healthcare industry

1. Complex and changing environments

Use of the cloud is growing across healthcare, with more than 81% of healthcare organizations using cloud services. Rapid adoption of multicloud environments and cloud services introduces many new challenges. Processing, accessing, and storing huge and growing amounts of data in the cloud requires secure, streamlined access from myriad locations and devices.

Today, the healthcare industry generates roughly 30%of the world's data volume, and is expected to reach 36% by 2025. With so much data in distributed cloud infrastructure, healthcare security teams struggle to gain the right visibility to identify sensitive data and its security posture. They're also challenged to manage and enforce ‌effective, consistent policies that cover evolving attack vectors.

2. Targeted attacks

The healthcare industry holds a vast amount of personal and sensitive information, making it an attractive target for cybercriminals. Stolen financial data usually has a short shelf life, but PHI is forever. This data is 10 to 20 times more valuablethan credit card or banking information.

In recent years, several high-profile cyberattacks on the healthcare industry have highlighted severe implications. The average cost of a healthcare data breach was nearly US$10 million in 2024. Top observed campaigns carried out ransomware attacks against exposed and vulnerable services. Phishing remains the most common attack vector, enabling insider threats both deliberate and accidental.

3. Data and security sprawl

Healthcare organizations often work with third-party partners, such as research firms and service providers). This creates opportunities for data breaches and insider threats, making data security management even more critical. A siloed security approach, with multiple security products, exacerbates the complexity of these challenges.

Healthcare spends about 7% more on security than ‌other industries do. Over time, this has led to complexity, with a new security tool in the stack for each new threat vector or expanding attack surface. As budgets remain tight, security teams must now reduce this complexity while still effectively managing ‌their data environments.

4. Strict regulations and compliance requirements

As healthcare organizations embrace the cloud and modern technologies, they must also navigate a web of data compliance regulations. Aligning security and privacy practices with government mandates such as HIPAA, HITECH, PIPEDA, GDPR, and others is a continual, essential effort for all healthcare organizations.

The cost of noncompliance can be quite high. In 2023, the US Office for Civil Rights issuedmore than US$4 million in finesfor HIPAA Security Ruleviolations in 2023, and the https://compliancy-group.com/2023-hipaa-breaches-and-fines/average penalty has reached a massive $1.5 million. Aside from these fines, organizations can also suffer damage to their reputations, and possibly face legal consequences. In some cases, noncompliance can even lead to the suspension or revocation of business licenses.

Data security professionals and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) teams face the challenge of managing the requirements of all these regulatory frameworks. This is a continuous effort, with no end destination: the data landscape changes, and so do the regulations. That's why it's crucial for organizations to adopt a comprehensive data protection strategy that helps them stay compliant.

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