Healthcare data is one of the most desirable forms of data for cyber criminals to steal because its value on the cyber black market — the Dark Web — is much higher than most other forms of data. While there are several reasons for this, the recent study Your Life, Repackaged and Resold: The Deep Web Exploitation of Health Sector Breach Victims, concluded that healthcare data is ten times more valuable than financial data. The study listed the following key reasons:
- Healthcare data has more uses than financial data
- Healthcare fraud is more difficult to track
- Victims can easily cancel a credit card
- It is much more difficult to change a Social Security number
- It is nearly impossible to change all of a person’s electronic health records
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Shawn Tuma (@shawnetuma) is a business lawyer with an internationally recognized reputation in cybersecurity, computer fraud and data privacy law. He is a Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Partner at Scheef & Stone, LLP, a full-service commercial law firm in Texas that represents businesses of all sizes throughout the United States and, through its Mackrell International network, around the world.