The last various weeks have brought a host of alarming revelations relating to the vulnerability of few of the most confidential data that corporations and legal entities maintain on their servers. Most prominently, the story of the so-called “Panama Papers” sustains to pursue substantial media attention, as the theft of approximately 2.6 terabytes of data from the Panamaian law firm Mossack Fonseca, and its disclosure to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, has already caused the resignation of one international leader and threaten the fates of several more. Perhaps less provocative, but no less important, is a recent Wall Street Journal article reporting that hackers illegally accessed the computer networks at some of the most respected and prestigious law firms in the USA, apparently for the purpose of stealing confidential information that in turn can facilitate insider trading.
It should not be shocking that entities in the legal industry face these sorts of attacks, offered the significance of the information they maintain. Somewhat less clear, though, is the extent to which entities in the health care field also confront a demonstrated risk of data theft at the hands of hackers seeking financial gain. In fact, although medical information about celebrity sufferers may be enticing to hackers, the information that hospitals maintain is typically not the sort that can generate newspaper headlines or lead to profitable insider trading. Yet, whether due to a desire on the part of hackers to steal data like social security numbers or Medicare provider credentials, or to extort a ransom by locking health care contributors out of critical patient information, the threat is still very real. In fact, on the day of April 8, 2016,Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) sent a letter to FBI Director James Comey that rightfully brings heightened attention to the problem of data integrity and electronic theft in the health care industry.
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