HIPAA Breach Report for November 2024

The HIPAA breach report for November 2024 analyzes protected health information (PHI) breaches affecting 500 or more people, as reported to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in October 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. 5,131,453 individuals had their data breached.
• Desktop breaches were the second most common breach, with 144,637 people affected.
• Email breaches affected 90,830 people, the third most common breach type.

HIPAA breaches ranked by occurrence

Most common breach types

• Network server was the most common attack vector. There were 35 network server breaches.
• Email breaches were the second most common attack vector. There were 15 email breaches.
• Paper/films and Desktop breaches were the third most common attack vector, with 3 attacks each.

Year-over-year comparison

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

HIPAA breaches ranked by people affected

What we observe

• Network server, other, and Electronic medical record breaches affected the most people overall across this comparison.
• The number of people affected by email breaches is up massively from the previous year.
• Electronic medical record breaches are typically low, but a massive breach in October 2022 has skewed the results.

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.
  
• 35 network server breaches were reported in October 2024, up from the previous year.
• The number of Email breaches is also up from the previous year.
  

Takeaways

Network Server breaches affected the most people in October 2024.

Summit Pathology and Summit Pathology Laboratories, Inc. had the most significant breach, which affected 1.8 million people. ATSG, Inc had the second-largest breach, which affected 909,469 people.

The yearly comparison shows that network server breaches were the most popular attack vectors in four out of the last five October months.

Overall, over 18.8 million individuals had their data accessed via 270 breaches during the last five Octobers.

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 October 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.