HIPAA Breach Report for April 2023

The HIPAA breach report for April 2023 analyzes protected health information (PHI) breaches affecting 500 or more people as reported to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in March 2023.

This report covers:

• HIPAA breaches ranked by people affected
• HIPAA breaches ranked by occurrence
• Year-over-year comparison
• Takeaways
• Full data

HIPAA breaches ranked by people affected

Most common breaches by type

• Network server breaches affected the most people in March 2023. 6,156,956 individuals had their data breached.
• Email breaches were the second most common breach, with 186,971 people affected.
• Other breaches affected 23,000 people, the third most common breach type.

HIPAA breaches ranked by occurrence

Most common breach types

• Network server was the most common attack vector in March 2023. There were 42 network server breaches.
• Email breaches were the second most common attack vector. There were 13 email breaches.
• Electronic medical record and paper/films breaches were the third most common attack vector, each garnering 3 attacks during the month.

Year-over-year comparison

These charts compare the HIPAA data breach statistics from previous Paubox HIPAA Breach Reports (April 2019, April 2020, April 2021, April 2022) with this month’s report.

HIPAA breaches ranked by people affected

What we observe

• Network server, email, and desktop breaches affected the most people overall across this comparison.
• The number of people affected by email breaches more than doubled in March 2021 compared to March 2020.

HIPAA breaches ranked by occurrence

What we observe

• Network server, email, and paper/films breach types were the most common attack vectors in this comparison.
• Desktop breaches have decreased across this comparison, with no occurrences in the past three March months.
• The highest number of network server breaches occurred in March 2023.

Takeaways

Network server breaches affected the most people in March 2023. Cerebral, Inc. had the most significant breach that affected 3,179,835 people. ZOLL Services LLC had the second-largest breach, which affected 997,097 people.

The yearly comparison shows that network server breaches were the most popular attack vectors for bad actors over the last five March months. Over 10 million total individuals had their data accessed via 114 network server breaches during this time.

Full data

Click here to view the HHS’ raw data via Google Sheets.

About the Paubox HIPAA Breach Report

The Paubox HIPAA Breach Report analyzes recent PHI breaches that affected 500 or more individuals, as reported on the HHS Wall of Shame in March 2023.

SEE ALSO: HIPAA Compliant Email: The Definitive Guide

Robust inbound email security is a necessity for businesses today. Keeping your email security strategy updated helps ensure the protection of your network.