LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The cyber attack on Norton Healthcare earlier this year highlighted a recent surge in data breaches nationwide in 2023, putting millions of people's personal information at risk.
The May 9 "cyber event" — as Norton has called it since — has been the subject of speculation for weeks as the company works to recover its information and patients struggle to obtain prescriptions and schedule appointments. Social security numbers, bank information and mammogram images were among the sensitive documentation leaked online. The documents appear to show a large amount of Norton's financial information, including operating accounts and payroll accounts with a balance of tens of millions of dollars, credit card information, confidentiality agreements, patient imaging orders, vendor and bank information and business invoices.
"Health care in general is the No. 1 target for cyber criminals now," said James Lee, chief operating officer of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). "There's a lot of different players in the health care system, and not a lot of them are secure."
ITRC said there were nearly 1,400 data compromises for the first half of this year, higher than the yearly total for almost every year between 2005-20. And 2023 is on pace to set a record, with already a 153% increase in the number of people with personal information compromised in 2023 compared to the same period of 2022:
- 2022: 62,019,351 victims
- 2023: 156,637,416 victims
Lee said there are clear reasons why the numbers keep going up.
"We're seeing a return of a number of professional cyber crimes groups back into the marketplace," he said. "They were sidelined last year because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and now they've come back to their ordinary course of business, which is stealing information from people."
A hacker group called BlackCat Ransomware claimed responsibility for the Norton Healthcare attack and leaked files as proof. Norton isn't saying much about the case as the FBI investigates.
Lee said there's a lot of speculation among authorities on the role generative AI plays in cyber attacks for identity crimes, and hackers are getting more sophisticated on how they're stealing information.
He said many of the targeted companies pay the ransom to obtain their information, but others don't.
"Organizations with good insurance policies do tend to pay," Lee said. "There's no one formula to it. ... It's easy to say (don't pay), but the reality is, sometimes, that's something you have to do."
In a recent report, ITRC said the company with the largest number of victims is T-Mobile with 37 million. The cell phone company — which was also a victim of data breaches in 2018, 2019 and 2021 — said hackers stole customer information including names, billing addresses, emails, phone numbers and birth dates.
"They were one of the largest single sources of victims in 2022," Lee said. "This is a systemic problem with the industry being attacked. Particularly, T-Mobile seems to have a struggle with securing information and keeping it secure."
Lee said three simple tips can help you keep your information safe:
- Freeze your credit
- Change your passwords and don't reuse them
- Use two-factor authentication
"You are going to make it harder on them if you freeze your credit, because they can't open an account with your credit frozen if your credit is involved," Lee said. "You should only have one password per account. ... Certainly, don't share your work password and your personal passwords. Don't let those two mix."
Lee said you can use a manager program to help remember all your different passwords.
He said two-factor authentication can also make it more difficult for hackers to get your info, whether you're receiving a code via text message or using a multi-authenticator app.
And if you think your personal information is mostly seen on the dark web, think again.
"You're finding these identity market places in the open," Lee said. "They're on YouTube. They're on TikTok. They're out in the open on the open web for everyone to see."
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