March 3, 2025
Healthcare security measures are a very serious matter.
When a single weak password can unlock the healthcare data of more than half of all Americans, something has gone deeply wrong with how we handle our most sensitive information.
According to the latest findings, the Change Healthcare breach - already deemed one of the worst healthcare data leaks in history - now appears far more widespread than first thought. The breach laid bare the records of roughly 190 million Americans, stemming from what experts say was a startlingly basic security oversight.
The scope of the damage is shocking; more than 6 terabytes of healthcare data stolen, nearly $2.5 billion in losses, multiple ransom payments exceeding $22 million, and ongoing data leaks despite the ransom being paid.
What makes this breach particularly galling is its root cause: a single compromised password on an account that lacked multi-factor authentication (MFA) - a basic security measure that adds a second layer of checking before granting system access.
“This wasn’t some cutting-edge attack using unknown methods,” says Durable Programming’s President David Berube. “This was more like leaving the hospital key under the doormat and hoping nobody looks there.”
The breach’s aftereffects continue to spread throughout the healthcare system - in some cases sparking positive change. At the same time, somewhere in the darker corners of the internet, millions of Americans’ most private health information sits exposed.
Industry Standards, Optimism, and Actual Reality
While healthcare organizations must follow strict data protection rules under HIPAA, this breach shows a jagged, panic-inducing gap between written standards and everyday practices.
Companies in healthcare space often tout cutting-edge technology - artificial intelligence for diagnosis, machine learning for drug development, blockchain for record-keeping, and so forth. Perhaps we need less of that and more of doing the simple things correctly.
The aftermath of this breach should serve as a alarm about the state of healthcare security. Rather than chasing the next big tech breakthrough, healthcare organizations would do well to focus on strengthening basic security measures, training key staff, and upgrading legacy systems.
The solution here isn’t overreacting in times of crisis - it’s dilligence in applying simple methods before the crisis hits. It’s not rocket science - or, to use a perhaps more appropriate metaphor, it’s not brain surgery.
This isn’t the time to find new solutions - we aren’t even using the solutions we already have. It’s time to properly implementing the tried-and-true methods we already know work. As one industry veteran put it, “You don’t need AI to tell you to lock your doors at night.”
For the millions of Americans whose private health information now sits exposed, this breach serves as a chilling reminder of how far the healthcare industry still needs to go in protecting patient data. The solution isn’t in tomorrow’s GenAI pipe dreams - it’s in today’s best practices, properly applied.