For this assignment, I want you to evaluate at least three categories of data th

Question

For this assignment, I want you to evaluate at least three categories of data that could be found in a healthcare organization and to determine the relative value of that data to an outside attacker. Categories of information could include health history, scheduled procedures, lab test results, medication record, payer information (e.g. Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare info), personal information (including birthdate, address, ssn), or others.

Indicate the following for each of the three categories you choose:
1. Type(s) of harm that could occur from breach: reputation, financial, health related, other (include at least a 2-3 sentence explanation for each type of harm that may result)
2. Impact of the harm on the individual: low, med, high (Include a 2-3 sentence explanation. Minor inconvenience would be low. Death would be high.)
3. Impact of the harm on organizations: low, med, high (Include a 2-3 sentence explanation. This could include both the healthcare organization and any other organization that may be impacted financially (e.g. credit card companies) or otherwise by the breach.)
4. Impact of the harm on society: low, med, high (Include a 2-3 sentence explanation. If only a few individuals are harmed then the impact on society would be low even if the impact on the individual might be high.)
5. Difficulty of the attack: low, med, high (Include a 2-3 sentence explanation. How hard do you think it would be for an outside attacker to access this information? Feel free to use your current organization as a point of reference for your answer. For example, if no one in your organization has access to outside websites, then the difficulty of attack might be much higher.)

Explanation / Answer

1. Type(s) of harm that could occur from breach: reputation, financial, health related, other (include at least a 2-3 sentence explanation for each type of harm that may result)

Answer:

Considering the category of information named, health history, the answer is given.

The breach of personal financial information causes stress — recovering missing funds, paying late fees or interest, worrying about credit worthiness. Ultimately, however, a person’s financial identity can be fully restored. But in the case of health history, it is different. Healthcare data breaches have a much more personal, longer lasting, and potentially deadly impact.

Casualties are helpless before the individuals who, through reasonable means or foul, have control of their secured wellbeing data.

The data at security risk includes names, birth dates, policy numbers, diagnosis codes and billing information. Fraudsters use this data to create fake IDs to buy medical equipment or drugs that can be resold, or they combine a patient number with a false provider number and file made-up claims with insurers, according to experts who have investigated cyber-attacks on healthcare organizations.

Consumers sometimes discover their credentials have been stolen only after fraudsters use their personal medical ID to impersonate them and obtain health services. When the unpaid bills are sent on to debt collectors, they track down the fraud victims and seek payment.  

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