84k patient records exposed in November: 6 things to know

Although healthcare organizations in 2017 saw an average of one data breach per day, November's average dipped slightly and noted 28 incidents, according to a Protenus report.

The report, part of the "Protenus Breach Barometer" monthly series, analyzed healthcare breaches reported to HHS or disclosed to the media throughout November 2017.

Here are six things to know.

1. A total of 83,925 patient records were compromised in November, down from 246,246 patient records compromised in October.

2. The single largest incident in November for which Protenus obtained data involved a New Jersey-based sleep and pulmonary center that reported 16,474 patient records were locked up following a ransomware attack. 

3. Insider wrong-doing accounted for the plurality of breaches (32.1 percent), followed by hacking (28.6 percent) and loss or theft (25 percent).

4. A majority of November's data breaches (82.1 percent) involved healthcare providers, while 10.7 percent involved health plans and 3.6 percent involved business associates or vendors.

5. It took healthcare organizations an average of 55 days to discover an incident, with one organization taking 153 days from the time the breach occurred to when it discovered the incident.

6. It took healthcare organizations an average of 61 days to disclose that they had been breached to HHS, the media or the State's Attorney General, with one organization taking 134 days.

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