Cost of a Data Breach in Healthcare

Insights from the 2024 Breach Barometer

The Protenus 2024 Breach Barometer examines healthcare data breaches in 2023 and predicts trends for 2024.

1,161 Breaches reported in 2023

In 2023, there were 1,161 breach reports published on both covered and non-covered entities, compared to 1,138 reports in 2022. This includes both breaches reported to HHS under HIPAA and incidents involving health data not covered by HIPAA but held by U.S. entities.

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171+ million records breached in 2023

With a staggering 171 million+ records breached in 2023, the total number of compromised patient records in data breaches has surged by 187% compared to the previous year and has skyrocketed by over 320% since 2020.

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Hacking incidents account for 97% of records breached

Hacking incidents (including those involving business associates) rose to a staggering 97% in 2023, compared to 86% in 2022.

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93% of data breaches were caused by insider unauthorized access

Unauthorized access or disclosure can occur when sensitive information is shared with someone who does not have the authorization to view it.

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Average Cost of a Breach in 2023 was $10.9M

The cost of a breach goes well beyond HHS or state penalties. Reputational damage, loss of business and other fines associated with operational process changes and corrective actions add to the tab, with some estimations reaching close to $11M.^

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About Protenus

Protenus harnesses the power of AI to provide healthcare organizations with scalable risk-reduction solutions that drive the safest patient outcomes while protecting the reputation of the organizations.

*The above statements represent a snapshot in time of information in the KLAS database. The data represents opinions of providers and does not represent the opinion of KLAS. For more information, visit KLASresearch.com

^{^}Sourced by IBM's Cost of a Breach report 2023

About the Breach Barometer Report

The 2024 Breach Barometer report was created in collaboration with DataBreaches.net. Information regarding sources of data can be found in the 2024 Breach Barometer Report.

This report is made available for educational purposes only and “as-is.” Although we have tried to provide accurate information, as new information or details become available, any findings or opinions in this paper may change. Despite our diligent efforts, we remain convinced that the breaches we find out about publicly are only the tip of a huge iceberg.

Terms & Conditions

171M Patient Records Breached in 2023

Who's looking at your patient records? Worried about a health data breach? Dive below the surface to learn how a breach could cost your organization almost $11M in fines and penalties.