While stories about large-scale financial and retail breaches are making headlines on a regular basis, it is medical identity theft that should be taking center stage. Why? In 2013, the healthcare industry experienced more data breaches than ever before, accounting for 43% of all breaches that year.

In the most recent edition of our cyberSAFE webinar series, Ann Patterson of Medical Identity Fraud Association (MIFA) and Dr. Marie-Helen Maras of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, along with CSID’s own Bryan Hjelm, discussed the latest on this topic.

They addressed the trends in medical identity theft, implications for healthcare organizations and patients, and provided recommendations for how the industry – as well as consumers – can make secure changes moving forward. The panelists also took a look at CSID’s findings from our recent survey of healthcare organizations. Watch a recording of the webinar below and read our whitepaper for survey findings and analysis.

Our survey found that most small healthcare facilities are unprepared for data breach. While healthcare breaches are on the rise, most small healthcare facilities feel that their systems adequately limit the risk of a data breach – yet one in three facilities spends less than 10% of their IT budget on protecting patient data, and less than a third (28.6%) have a crisis plan in place in the event of a breach.To better protect patient data and secure their systems, healthcare facilities of all sizes should focus on the following:

• Educate employees and partners
• Install and maintain anti-virus software
• Track, encrypt and password-protect mobile devices with access to patient data
• Audit and vet third party vendors that will have access to patient data
• Implement multi-factor authentication requirements across the organization

We encourage you to check out the corresponding infographic, watch the webinar recording below and read the whitepaper. If you have any questions or comments for us, you can always reach out to us via Twitter and Facebook. Find out more about CSID’s cyberSAFE webinar series and watch previous recordings.

Our cyberSAFE series is back with another free webinar: join us October 21, 2014 at 12 PM CT to discuss medical identity theft and the rapidly approaching Electronic Medical Records Mandate.

Many consumers are unaware of medical identity theft and the harm it can cause – both to their wallet and their health – yet this is the fastest growing segment of identity theft in the United States. The Identity Theft Resource Center found that breaches of medical records with PII accounted for 43 percent of all PII breaches in 2013. In addition, Ponemon Research reported that 90 percent of healthcare organizations have exposed their patients’ data or had it stolen in 2012 and 2013, and the industry has seen more than 200 breach incidents in 2014 alone.

In our upcoming cyberSAFE webinar, medical fraud experts will address the growing problem of medical identity theft and related topics, including: Electronic Medical Records and the threats consumers and businesses face; how medical identity theft happens and what happens to an identity once it is stolen; the impact of medical identity theft on businesses and consumers; and what solutions businesses and consumers can implement to prevent and mitigate the impact of medical identity theft.

We have pulled together an excellent group of experts for the discussion, including Ann Patterson, SVP and Program Director of the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance, and Dr. Marie-Helen Maras, Associate Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Additional panelists will be announced soon.

Join us for this free one-hour webinar on October 21 at 12 pm CT. If you are a business owner, healthcare professional, IT professional, or even someone who has ever been to the doctor – we encourage you to sign up, listen in and ask questions.

Register now – it is a great way to get involved with National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) this October! And as always, join conversations about the webinar on social media using the hashtag #cyberSAFE.

Plus, join us Monday, October 20 at 1 PM CT for a Twitter chat on the same topic – just use the hashtag #cyberSAFEchat.