HIPAA Breach Report for May 2024

The HIPAA breach report for May 2024 analyzes protected health information (PHI) breaches affecting 500 or more people, as reported to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in April 2024.

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 April 2024. 15,207,724 individuals had their data breached.
• Email breaches were the second most common breach, with 122,653 people affected.
• Other breaches affected 9,859 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 April 2024. There were 34 network server breaches.
• Email breaches were the second most common attack vector. There were 13 email breaches.
• Other and Paper/films breaches were tied as the third most common attack vector, garnering 2 attacks each during the month.

Year-over-year comparison

These charts compare the HIPAA data breach statistics from previous Paubox HIPAA Breach Reports (May 2020, May 2021, May 2022, May 2023) with this month’s report.

HIPAA breaches ranked by people affected

What we observe

• Network server, email, and other breaches affected the most people overall across this comparison.
• The number of people affected by Email breaches is almost the same as in May 2023's breach report but is down from previous years, possibly showing a slight downward trend.
• There were no electronic medical record, laptop, or desktop breaches in April 2024.

HIPAA breaches ranked by occurrence

What we observe

• Network server, email, other, and paper/films breach types were the most common attack vectors in this comparison.
  
• 34 Network server breaches were reported in April, which is on par with previous years but shows some signs of trending upward year over year.
• The total number of breaches has remained roughly the same year over year.
  

Takeaways

Network Server breaches affected the most people in April 2024. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.. had the most significant breach that affected 13,4 million people. Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin had the second-largest breach, which affected 533,809 people.

The yearly comparison shows that network server breaches were the most popular attack vectors for bad actors over the last four April months.

Overall, nearly 25 million individuals had their data accessed via 242 breaches during the last five Aprils.

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 January 2024.

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.