More Data Means More Risk

The headlines about privacy breaches in consumer health data have been mindboggling. Ireland’s health care system is still reeling from last week’s cyberattack, the country’s worst ever. In the ransomware attack, many hospitals and clinics lost access to consumer records, appointment booking, and email systems—leading the Ireland Health Service Executive (the national health service) to shut down most of its information technology (IT) systems as a precaution. Provider organizations are back to paper records. More than 2,000 consumer-facing IT systems and 80,000 devices have been affected. Thousands of diagnostic appointments, cancer treatment clinics . . .