Ride the Lightning

Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

Why Do Criminals Want Your Medical Data? How to Protect Yourself

November 21, 2018

Credit cards are old hat – available for a mere pittance on the Dark Web. But medical data is highly coveted – and the price of that data ranges from $25.00 up to $100.00 for a truly comprehensive record.

Medical records are attractive because they contain family history, demographic data, insurance information, medications, etc. The bad guys can use this data to steal an individual's identity, to commit medication, financial, and insurance fraud – along with a wide variety of other crimes, including blackmail.

As a Forbes article noted last year, health care employees can lift and sell your data with little problem. And it is clear that more and more health professionals, especially those under financial pressure, are succumbing to temptation.

There are things you can do to protect yourself from medical identify theft and subsequent crimes, some of which come from a Consumer Reports post.

  1. Review your credit cards for fraudulent charges.
  2. Review your insurance benefits statements for providers or facilities you may not have used.
  3. Keep your social security number out of your medical file. You can often decline to give it.
  4. Resist having your driver's license or other government ID scanned.
  5. If you lose your health insurance card, call and ask for a new ID number on your new card.
  6. Never share health data or personal information over the phone or via email unless you SURE about who you are communicating with. If someone reaches out to you via phone or email, it could well be a scam. Better for you to call your doctor, your hospital, etc. directly.
  7. Don't share health information online via websites or apps.
  8. Ask your medical providers how they secure your data.
  9. Get and keep copies of your medical records.
  10. Be wary – and if something seems fishy, ask questions.

I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving – Ride the Lightning will be on sabbatical until December 10th. But as they say in the movies, "I'll be back."

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