Health records and the information they contain are some of the most valuable records available on the black market today and COVID-19 is pushing the envelope even further, says the director of corporate security for Medavie Blue Cross.
Chad White told a cybersecurity webinar on June 25 that the average value of a health record is many times that of any other record on the black market.
A credit card with all the numbers and the name of the cardholder is worth about 35 cents on the black market, said White.
Health records contain valuable information
But the cost for a health record can be anywhere from $10-$1,000, mainly because of all the information in a medical file, including the person’s name, family members’ names, birthdates, addresses and workplaces – all information that is needed to steal a person’s identity and illegally obtain a mortgage or a line of credit, he said.
While a bank can shut down a stolen credit card within a couple of purchases, it is much more difficult for a person to regain their identity.
Right now, said White, health care is the biggest target for hackers and phishers and is growing even larger because of the international hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Information is the most valuable commodity in existence. It’s worth more than gold. It’s worth more than saffron,” said White.
Countries scour internet to find COVID-19 vaccine progess
There are countries out there that want to destabilize another country’s healthcare system to uncover its progress on finding a vaccine, he said.
“There are a lot of nations now looking for that vaccine and … we can’t put a price on that because seven billion people are going to want to have that vaccination.”
White said hackers are breaking online into research facilities, universities and medical facilities to find out who has what pieces of information, how much progress they have made and whether they have a vaccine that is in trial.
“So there’s a lot of activity out there and once again healthcare is that big huge target because this is the information everybody wants right now.”
Change your passwords
When it comes to personal information, White encouraged users to change the default passwords that come with new printers or computers (such as “admin,” “password” and “guest”) and never turn off a firewall because robots are being used to dig relentlessly for vulnerabilities.
On top of that, he suggested passwords be changed into “passphrases,” such as “Ilovetodrinkcoffeeinthemorning!!” because it’s easy to remember yet long enough that it is too difficult to break.
