Malicious attacks ranked as the number one cause of healthcare data breaches for a sixth consecutive year, with the percentage of incidents pegged to hacking/information technology (IT) incidents rising from 73% last year to 80% so far in 2022.

The 2022 Mid-Year Horizon Report: The State of Cybersecurity in Healthcare from Fortified Health Security illustrates how healthcare providers, health plans and business associates must not let their guard down, even though the number of reported cybersecurity breaches have leveled off after meteoric rises over the past several years.

There were 337 breaches impacting 500 or more records reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the first six months of 2022, according to the report. Healthcare providers account for the most breaches (72%), followed by business associates (16%) and health plans (12%).

The report examined the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) on healthcare cybersecurity, finding that organizations using AI and automation detected and contained breaches 27% quicker than those without.

For more report insights, click here.