What to do if your medical data is hacked

If your medical data is hacked, we’re (unfortunately) not too surprised. A large volume of the cases we deal with are for healthcare sector breaches, and hackers do target the sector.

The reason hackers target the sector is often due to a lack of resources in cybersecurity. We saw in the 2017 WannaCry attack just how much damage a targeted attack can do. The hackers in this incident targeted outdated systems because they can be more vulnerable to being broken into. With the healthcare sector often using outdated systems, they were an easy target.

If your medical data is hacked, what can you do about it?

Help if your medical data is hacked

We may be able to help you if your medical data is hacked. We represent a lot of victims who claim for NHS data breach compensation, and this includes victims in hacking incidents.

If it is the case that the hack was avoidable, you may be able to make a claim for data breach compensation.

Not all attacks can be stopped, and no one is completely impenetrable (in theory). But if  your medical data is hacked because of a lack of proper cybersecurity, the healthcare organisation at fault can be responsible for compensating you.

Whether that’s the NHS or a private healthcare institution.

What can you claim for if your medical data is hacked?

If your medicals data is hacked, you may be able to claim data breach compensation. This can be damages for any distress caused, and for any financial losses that may be caused by fraud or scams.

Medical data is often incredibly personal and very sensitive. Its one of the worst forms of data to be exposed. For that reason, compensation pay-outs for medical data hacks can be high when it comes to data breach compensation amounts.

For help and advice, please contact the team.

What needs to change to stop the problem?

If medical data is hacked, it can cause serious distress for the victim. With the increasing digitalisation of the healthcare industry, more needs to be done to ensure for proper investment in cybersecurity.

Digitalisation can be great. It can be cost-effective, more efficient and patients can benefit from AI and machine-learning. But there has to be proper security in place and proper auditing as well. With the ability to access huge amounts of medical data comes the need for staff to know their responsibilities, and for organisations to protect the data they hold.

There should be a prominent culture of security-focus in the NHS and in the private healthcare industry.

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