20 of the Worst HIPAA Violations in History

(Image credit: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash)

If you're not familiar with the HIPAA, it's that law that makes sure that your sensitive personal health information are protected. If anybody shares that data without your consent, then they will be liable for damages.

You can read more about the HIPAA here. But, for the purposes of this article, we're only going to look at some of the worst violation cases throughout history.

You might wonder how in the world these happen, and ask, "Are doctors just sharing your private information to other people?" Of course not, but the institutions that handle our personal information might not have the best security protocols in place.

For example, there might be data breaches happening at hospitals or clinics because hackers often try to gain access illegally through hospitals' databases because it's a gold mine of personal data which they can sell to marketers, other companies, and anybody who might benefit from other people's private data.

It can also be used in identity theft, phishing, or scams. It's the same threat that any company or website faces, except this holds your health records.

So, doctors, medical professionals, and others in the healthcare industry like insurance companies, labs, and pharmacies, try their best to protect your data from being stolen.

Anyway, that doesn't always happen and here we have a collection of the 20 worst HIPAA violations in history.