Hackers make money from your stolen medical data

The title would not misfit a public newspaper shouting for attention at the kiosk.

Most of the article goes on about stolen MD identities used to pose as a doctor, making false claims. Your stolen data is only worth pocket money it seems. Not to say the danger is real and your data should be protected and in your control at all times.

The interesting part is I suspect older systems pose a greater threat than new systems centrally storing information in cloud-on-premise or cloud environments. The lengths we go these days to separate actual observations or data from the PII bits in fear of a hack make it so the hacker has to hack at least two, but more likely three or more separate systems these days. Two of which typically should not be exposed outside the VPC/DMZ. I sure hope this article, or similar ones, will not be used by parlements and countries to slow down innovations even further. There is already enough trouble slowing down innovation in Healthcare as it is today.

Let's not fear this but see it as motivation to do our utmost best to protect your data forcing innovation to get rid of all the legacy systems that still live in the world. And while we are at it, use your anonimized data (with consent) to improve the quality of care, lower cost of care and improve patient experience and outcomes.