Security News > 2011 > March > Medical identity theft a rising and significant threat

Medical identity theft a rising and significant threat
2011-03-28 07:06

http://www.csoonline.com/article/678229/medical-identity-theft-a-rising-and-significant-threat By George V. Hulme CSO March 25, 2011 When most people think of identity theft, it's credit card transaction fraud or perhaps a criminal taking out a car loan or a mortgage in someone else's name. What doesn't t always come to mind is someone stealing identity and medical credentials and then using those to obtain needed medical care, or selling those credentials on the underground market. According to many industry experts, medical identity theft is on the rise because it is profitable, and the increasing use of electronic health records makes more data accessible. Additionally, Credit card numbers and other forms of financial data are losing their market value. "While credit card data will earn a few dollars on the black market, medical and medical insurance account information can sell for hundreds," says Robbie Higgins, VP of security services at IT solution provider GlassHouse Technologies. Also, explains, Higgins, while credit cards, banks, and financial services firms have systems highly tuned to spot fraudulent transactions, the same isn't true for health care services. "They're much less mature when it comes to their ability to spot fraudulent transactions," he says. Jennifer Leuer, general manager of Experian's identification protection service ProtectMyID agrees. "The health care industry is much more fragmented, with dozens of providers potentially being part of a transaction," she says. [...] ___________________________________________________________ Tegatai Managed Colocation: Four Provider Blended Tier-1 Bandwidth, Fortinet Universal Threat Management, Natural Disaster Avoidance, Always-On Power Delivery Network, Cisco Switches, SAS 70 Type II Datacenter. Find peace of mind, Defend your Critical Infrastructure. http://www.tegataiphoenix.com/


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http://www.csoonline.com/article/678229/medical-identity-theft-a-rising-and-significant-threat